Loki's Language of Lies
by Ember Carsyn
Summary: Rhosyn Stark speaks Loki's language. When they first met during The Avengers, they made plans to work together in the future. Fast forward to post-TDW. Loki and Rhosyn are working together and trickery is back in business on Midgard. Sort of. Minor other ships in background occasionally.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

_What is done in vain_  
_Truth is hard to swallow_  
_So you pray to God_  
_To justify the way you live a lie_  
_Live a lie_  
_Live a lie_

"You and I both know you could overpower me and be out there, exposing his web of lies in a moment, yet you stand here, letting me block the door, as you listen to your heir being told to go live with his mortal girlfriend." I commented, curious as to why Odin, Allfather, King of Asgard, was just standing there, a bit close for comfort, watching the proceedings in silence.

"I don't because I know that this is for the best. It is what Frigga would have wanted. She gave her life for this Midgardian woman." Odin seems sad, and I see a tear glimmer in his eye as Thor turns and rushes off to leave, to go back to Jane Foster in London, England, the UK. "You are a strange mortal woman, to be a friend to Loki."

"He and I speak the same language." I feel awkward in these halls in my boots, jeans, and heavy bomber coat. I suppose here is better than in the mess of London, with the kid who thinks I'm his cousin, Ian what's his name.

"You speak his language," Odin remarks, as I hear Loki's normal voice returning. "Who are you on Midgard?"

"I call it Earth, even though Midgard sounds cool as shit." I sigh. "Why are you really letting Loki do this?"

"Because it allows me to see who he really is. A man who cares, yet does not want to be seen caring, rather be seen spinning his web. He is still my son, even if I did tell him that he deserved to have died." Odin seems tired. "You didn't answer my question mortal one. I can still change my mind about allowing two mortal women into Asgard's sacred realm in such a short time span. Even if you were helpful in fighting off the final attack."

I remember the projection telling me about that encounter. I remember the projection telling me Frigga had died, sobbing about the last conversation he had had with her. I gulp. "I'm what Midgard people call a con-artist. To live, I spin a web of lies, creating new identities as I will. I'm formally trained as a Midgardian doctor, and I'm not a practicing doctor, because of a falling out with my older brother about his life choices. He has no clue where I am and I feel like shit because I have biweekly luncheons with his girlfriend and I make her promise not to tell him. And I'm missing one because Loki needed my help, and she had to cancel the past two because of my brother." I don't tell him how I knew how to fight, because that has to do with my current occupation.

"You're careful to not say names. I could just ask Heimdall, but I give you the benefit of the doubt mortal." Odin looms over me, clutching his axe like a walking stick for a moment. He's old, even if he is immortal, and he just lost his wife and Loki is still officially dead. "I know what you and Loki returned here for. I was saving that for a different purpose." He sighs. "You must at least tell me your name so that it can be given in the tales they will sing at the ale houses in celebration."

"My name?" I see Loki beckoning me, telling me it's time to go. I walk backwards towards his arms, where I know he's going to teleport us to the entrance to our escape route. "Stark," I call out, and it echoes through the empty hall. "Rhosyn Stark." And then I feel the familiar feeling of Loki's magic wrapping around me.

Somehow I feel that dear Odin Allfather isn't going to like that answer one bit.

Frankly my dear Allfather, I don't give a damn.

_And you take your time_  
_And you do your crime_  
_Well you made your bed_  
_I'm in mine_

**AN: Breakup, financial stress, who cares, Thor 2's ending was a mind fuck because WHERE THE HELL WAS ODIN DURING THAT and of course I knew Loki had to survive, but still...no Loki until Thor 3 or something like that. Until then, this and my taser trick story when I get it written down. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- In Which a Plan Not Up to Caliber is Formed**

_Black shadow hangin' over your shoulder  
Black mark up against your name  
Your green eyes couldn't get any colder  
There's bad poison runnin' through your veins_

"Go to bed. There's a bunch of texts and voice mails from Ian. He's on his way back here." I tell Loki, as he slip out of his armor, shoving it in the duffel bag I bought for him at the sporting goods store. "He won't look in my room. Otherwise I look in his."

He chuckles at me, kissing my cheek. "You didn't even try lying to the Allfather?"

"I was a little busy praying for cell signal so I could call Pepper and tell her I'm fine. Malekeith did cancel our plans for this week though. I ought to just go to New York sometime…" I mumble, changing into a pair of cut offs and a plaid pyjama top over my tank top, my bra already off, the first thing I'd ripped off when Loki got us back here. I can't believe he even managed that. I know he's injured. He may be immortal, but he doesn't heal as fast as Asgardians do, something Frigga used to help him out with, but she can't anymore.

"How much time…" The sound of a key in the lock and Darcy Lewis' voice bumbling on about something made him stop and curl up under my covers, hiding his face from the door as best he could, pulling the covers up to his shoulders and fake shivering. Maybe he's really shivering. It hasn't even been two days since his mother died defending Jane Foster.

"Oh come on," I mutter, stepping out to greet the two with false cheer.

"So you know as your boss we really can't do that again. That was more a saving the world and I am having a dry spell right now and hellllloooo….." Darcy trailed off as I stepped into view and I remembered I still had a few visible injuries from when I'd helped out with the dark elf problem back in Asgard. Sif had been annoyed a mortal could fight so well, especially a female mortal.

"There were orcs from Lord of the Rings running rampant near my job." I lie smoothly. "I had to do something didn't I?" I hold up a thing of pepper spray I'd grabbed as I walked out of my room to use as a prop. "My stun gun wasn't charged enough though."

Darcy Lewis looks at me with a confused look then just nods. "Okay well, I'm going to get going. Thanks for saving my life. Not kissing you again since I'm your boss Ian. Good to meet you whoever you are. Are you his girlfriend? You look a little older than him and well…"

"I'm his cousin. Third cousin, five times removed."

"Oh." She leaves, mercifully, and Ian slumps on the couch, like a love sick puppy.

"So, how's your internship?" I offer him an apple, as I take one and bite into it, wondering if the apples of immortality Loki spoke of briefly with Odin tasted any better, were all perfect, or if there were mealy tasting apples of immortality too.

"Insane. I'm thinking of resigning, getting a real job."

I smirk. "You probably should. I'm moving out." I hadn't planned to, I just spat it out. Truth is, since Jane Foster is Thor's girl, and Darcy Lewis is Jane Foster's intern and Ian is Darcy Lewis' intern (deep breath after that one), Loki won't be easy to hide.

"What?" Ian cried, starting to slump a bit less.

I turn and wave to him, then flip him off, as I stalk into my room, dialing Tony as I do so.

"Hello?"  
"Thought you might want to know and share with Pepper that I survived the dark elves in London. They only wanted to destroy the whole universe. Where the hell was SHIELD? Thor had to do it all."

"Huh. The Ironman signal must not be working." Tony's response was standard. He was probably a little in his cups, but I don't care. I shouldn't even have told him where I was and that I knew who Thor was so flippantly.

"No long time no hear from or see? No what the fuck baby sis? No love?" I whine, knowing he just wants to hear I'm not at the station needing bailed out like the last time. "I'm not in jail." That's all he cares about.

Loki chuckles, sitting on the edge of my bed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, one of Tony's AC/DC t-shirts that he actually did steal. He holds out his arms and I sit next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder. He knows about my family issues, just like I know about his.

"Did you take my AC/DC shirt in the panic after the Chitari invasion?"

"No. My boyfriend did." I smirk up at Loki, who smirks back. The one constant in our cons here on Earth is that we're always dating, even if we have to keep it behind the scenes.

"Oh God. Now you're dating and ruining the Stark family name," Tony's serious. He can be a playboy and make headlines trashing his home, but I can't go off the grid and be who I am without complete condemnation. I've never given the name Stark to the police. "Can you mail it back to me?"

"No. He looks hotter in it than you ever did." Loki is next to me, his arms around me, kissing that little spot just behind my ear that makes me distracted. "Listen I just called to say I'm alive still. Have fun with SHIELD and your metal suit. Heard you destroyed most of them." I hang up and disconnect the battery, smash the SIM and look towards my closet where my suitcases are, then at Loki, who is bruised and a long gash in his side worries me. "We're going to have to move out you know."

He nods, floating the suitcases down from my shelf. "It's the nature of things. Where to now?"

"A hotel nearby."

He starts packing my things with magic, as I pull out the notebook full of places I've been and places I haven't been. Hotels where discretion is in my budget. "A poor choice. The neighborhood is low end. I won't fit in."

I laugh softly as I flip to Paris, on a whim. "Funds are low. I at least need to pull a con somewhere."

He sighs. "I could just use magic to…"

"We need to keep you dead Loki," I sigh. "We have one option, and it's not pretty."  
"New York."

"New York."

He finishes packing the important stuff, and I throw my personal items into it. He had the decency to let me pack my own bras. "You do know SHIELD still has a heavy presence there, right?"

"I know." I hand him a sheet of information I convinced Pepper to give me after the latest attempts on Tony's life. "SHIELD has a large shipment of currency being shipped directly to their vault in their New York office. We go in as transfers from the London field office. London has the fallout from Maliketh to deal with. We go in here and now to plant our files for verification. Then we con our way onto the detail for the currency and alter it to be only what we need."

"So we're in the business of heists now." His voice is distasteful, but in his eyes I see that he understands why, and sees where our common language goes into it. Getting to everything that we need.

"We have to con our way into both offices, and then back out as _entirely different people_."

"Simple. Magic." Loki said, not entirely impressed with the plan.

"At the same time, we take something else from their vaults."

He perks up. "We already hold the power over the Allfather with our little trophy. Now we get something to hold over Nick Fury."  
"Exactly." I smirk at him. "Using that success, we propel ourselves into fame, pulling jobs on various government agencies around the world until we are the secret keepers of the planet. I rather like that idea."

He smiles at me. "We need access codes."  
"Already on it." I hold up a dress and a pair of heels that I hadn't packed. "Do you think I should wear pale or crimson lip stick?" Maybe this is more of a revenge plan on my own brother.

_Evil walks behind you  
Evil sleeps beside you  
Evil talks arouse you  
Evil walks behind you_

**_AN: Not the best example of where this is going. I just needed to spit out a plan and make myself stick to it. _**

**_I should probably identify the lyrics used in the prologue are from the song Let it Rock by Kevin Rudolf (from a version not featuring Wiz Khalifa). AC/DC's Evil Walks is this chapter's song. The song doesn't entirely fit, except for the lyrics I chose. I didn't realize that it was in Iron Man 2's soundtrack until just now, so no hidden messages there. _**

**_Comments, even with criticism (as long as it's not highly impolite) are more than welcome. I'm just sitting here in my flat catching up on shows writing). Also, I'm hunting for a cover but so far no dice. _**

**_Favorites are good to. Thanks to IvyLinkin. _**

**_Follow or favorite if you choose._**

**_Please note: Author's notes now restricted to just the identity of the song used and any notes about delays in posting. Otherwise monstrosities like this will occur way too frequently. _**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- In which men are men and liars and liars

_When the storm arrives, would you be seen with me  
By the merciless eyes I've deceived_

It wasn't all that hard coming up with the way to get the access codes. Loki posed as a guy hosting a party and put me on the invite list. It was merely that simple. The trick was getting in and out before the real host figured out that I wasn't a member of the Russian delegation coming to meet with SHIELD. The other danger was that Natasha Romanoff would be on hand. She was, after all, the most well-known Russian in SHIELD, well, former Russian.

I wasn't supposed to know that though.

"What do you need?" Loki said, from where he reclined on the bed, resting, still not up to his full strength. He's a god. It shouldn't take him this long to heal, but staving off serious injuries must be an issue for him, or maybe Odin's done something in retaliation already.

"You need your strength." I pull the red wig out of its protective encasement and start fixing the minor little issues with it. "Rest."

"That wig won't help you with SHIELD." He flicked a hand lazily and my hair color changed to the color of the wig, and it was already put up neatly in the chignon that I had instructions for pulled up on my phone. "It'll last until I tell it to stop."

I take a deep breath and shake my head. "You know that's not the deal Loki."

"You're not in charge of everything. You're merely a con-artist Lady Stark. I'm a god."

I snort. "An exiled injured god at best darling." We aren't anything special to each other. Just co-workers in a twisted way. Frigga, rest her soul (if that's what Asgardian culture would say), always wished there would be something more. She said I was the yin to his yang, to put her long poetic speech into a short statement. She said Loki needed someone to love him besides her. Love is a strong word. We see the use of having each other around. I heave a sigh. "Did you check the rest of the guest list?"

"The real host was arriving, and I can't hold too many illusions at once." Liar.

"What aren't you telling me?" I reach for the earrings I conned out of a jewelry shop owner in Italy a few years ago that was a personal favorite, and slip them into my ears gently, before reaching for the garment bag holding the dress I'd borrowed from a designer store. The sequined fabric hugged my curves and the cut made sure I'd be an easy focus point for men at the party.

"Nothing of any importance to you," Loki snapped, turning on his side away from me, so that I couldn't see his profile anymore. Something's bothering him.

"Thor and Jane are going to be there, aren't they, so that SHIELD can show its neat allies and the brains they have at their disposable?" I sneered, not impressed. I'd met Jane Foster when she was in Asgard, although she wouldn't remember me. She'd struck me as a two dimensional woman. One dimension for her science, and another dimension for Thor.

"Seriously? How can you always figure me out like that?" He sneered back, sarcastically. "No. Nothing like that. There's rumors of an Asgardian delegation around the time we're planning our big finale."

"So that is important to me." I kissed his forehead gently, noting it was still warmer than usual. "Rest."

"I'm fine."

I have a gun made of new materials from Stark Industry that I conned my way into. It's taped with medical tape to my thigh, hidden just above the slit in my dress. Loki wasn't impressed that I was carrying it, but I'd rather be caught with Stark Industry tech than with Asgardian weaponry.

It's a comfort as I smile at the doorman, giving my name in a fake Russian accent, as good as I could manage. It's easier to speak Russian with an accent then to speak English with a Russian accent. I've been British for way too long. "I'm in," I whisper to myself, knowing it doesn't matter.

I spot the target Loki and I agreed on after surveillance of the London SHIELD office easily. He's by the bar, looking nervous as he sips a rather effeminate cocktail. He's a technician, one of their lower echelon, but with enough clearance that we can use him for our purposes. He's fair game for the part I'm playing.

I sashay up to him, swinging my hips, and hoping that this works without me having to take him upstairs. He's not my type—fat, bad comb-over job, the works. "You look lonely," I purr, staying in character. "Vodka. Straight. Best quality you've got." I order the bar-tender, leaning to show my breasts to the bar-tender and the technician.

"So. Where do you go to find a good time around here?" I look at the technician, smiling at him. "Nadia."

"Andrew." He stutters. From there, it's a cakewalk.

"I'm in charge this time," Loki demanded from his perch in the nest of blankets on the bed. He was doing better, practicing his magic, ignoring my requests that he stops. We've moved hotels again, this time to one near the airport, using different faces, and different looks. I've got black hair now, the color of Sif's and I'm pretending I'm here as I strut around the hotel, fretting about my "husband's" lost passport. In reality I'm waiting for a fake passport to come in for Loki from a verified source and we have to plant our identities in SHIELD'S database.

"Fine. Your show. You take full responsibility if we fail."

"We won't fail. I'm the god of lies and trickery," he retorted, calmly, "now, for the plan."

"The technician is male, so obviously it makes more sense to have you go in as him, while I delay him on the subway. The only issue is making sure that he doesn't find out he was in before."

"What would you usually do?" Loki asked, a smirk on his face as he lit the candles I had on the table for a fake candlelight dinner. We were posing as newlyweds after all. We had so many laughs quietly to ourselves as we faked having sex, banging things, fake moaning, the works. Loki had used illusions once, but it had caused a rather awkward moment between the two of us as we dealt with illusions of the two of us getting down and dirty.

"You're the god here. What do you suggest?" I sprawl across the couch, my feet aching from my heels. He doesn't respond for a few minutes as I remove the shoes carefully and massage my feet slowly. "Fine. I'd drug him with a heavy drug, probably goodnight Cinderella, and suggest that he call in sick for a few days after today, after planting the idea that he did go to work and he left early, feigning illness. The few days off is so that the drug will be mostly out of his system. What's the god approved method?"

"Illusions, but we'd need to recreate too much in too little time, and I don't entirely have my strength back." Loki admitted his weakness only because he knew I could call his bluffs each and every time. "How do we get Cinderella to go goodnight?"

"Goodnight Cinderella is the name of a drug. Getting it on the black market is difficult, but I know a good chemist who owes me one."

Loki nodded, leaning back on his pillows. "You know we ought to talk about things Rhosyn." He sounds more like the Loki I hung out with back before, when things weren't entirely like this, with a big plan.

"Loki, the fact of the matter is, things get awkward when co-workers start sleeping together. That's why I said no," I lie.

He looks at me with a roll of his eyes. "You only changed your mind after we almost got busted at the old hotel in the elevator."

I sigh, sitting up, picking up my shoes, ready to go to my bed on the pull out couch in the front room. "Listen Loki, I care for you, but you just lost your mother, and she was a dear friend to me while I was in Asgard." Seeing as how I had to stay the hell away from Loki, I had to have someone to talk to, when I wasn't even supposed to be there.

"Rhosyn," he whispers, his voice low and hoarse, husky even. "Please, at least just sleep in the bed. I won't try anything. I just…..it won't be like it was before. I promise."

"Loki," I breathe out his name, changing course, knowing that we're both liars. We'll try something, of course we will, and it will be the same as before. Neither of our word is good for anything.

_If you come inside, things will not be the same  
When you return to my night  
If you think you've won  
You never saw me change  
The game that we have been playing_

**AN: Lyrics for this chapter You Know My Name by Chris Cornell (gotta love Bond's intro music choices right?)**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three- In which Loki becomes Mr. Darcy

_With my heart upon my sleeve  
I head down low  
I still feel broken_

We're a tangled mess in the morning. I'm not surprised. Neither of us even bother discussing the lies from last night about this not going to happen. It feels normal, it feels good. I can almost imagine Frigga smiling at us from wherever she is. Although it would be creepy if she watched.

"Hey." It's unoriginal, but it's something, as I look at the green eyes opening sleepily across from me. It took a while before I ever saw Loki sleep, but now he's acting like a normal person who's been injured. Sometimes I wonder.

"We've slept in too late. We need to get moving," he's looking over my shoulder, not even sparing me a look, to look at the alarm clock.

I huff, rolling over, shrugging it off. It's always been this way. Half the time we're inseparable and great, the other half of the time it's like this, where we don't care about each other much more than getting the job done. The detachment is excellent. Excellently painful, but I'm never going to tell him that. In the end, he's a god and I'm a puny mortal. "I get it." I get up, wrapping the blanket on top of the sheets around me as I head out to where my suitcase waits. "I'll go out to see my chemist friend."

He appears in front of me and grabs my arm, roughly but gently. "Rhosyn."

"We need the drug in order to pull off the heist. If we get caught, we don't want a magical connection making the issue go up the chain and pulling in any of the bigwigs who can cause us problems Loki," I protest. "We don't have that much time. I was stupid when we got back from Asgard and I called Tony and…"

There's a knock at the door, and Loki shifts himself into the picture of who he was when we checked in. Blonde curly hair, black slacks, black dress shirt open at the top and the sleeves rolled up to near his elbows. He heads for the door, while I shove a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt on, grabbing a black blazer and sliding into a pair of ankle booties while I teeter towards the sound of a very familiar voice. Whatever was going to happen, whatever he had grabbed me for, is gone, and I'm never going to find out why he didn't want me to just walk off and….

"Is Rhosyn here?"

"Pepper!" I rush to give the woman a hug. "Please tell me Tony isn't here."

"The Avengers were summoned to help with security at SHIELD while a delegation from Asgard comes to help with the Aether clean-up." She shrugged. "I came along, and I don't know everything that I just said, I swear."

Loki floats to the background, giving me a worried look from behind Pepper.

"That's great. You aren't going to tell him I'm still in town are you?" I ask, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

"Did you just get up and throw on clothes in case you had to run?" Pepper accuses me, "I thought you were more careful than this."

"Meet my boyfriend." I tell her the truth. She can see the sex hair. There is no getting out of this one. I couldn't find a hair tie and Loki didn't think to do something about me, he was too busy helping himself hide. I suppose that is a priority though. "He's a professor here in England."

"Oh." She spins around and extends her hand out, friendly and business professional. "Pepper Potts, CEO Stark Industries. I'm so sorry for my initial greeting. Rhosyn rarely misses our meetings and three in a row…"  
"William Darcy. I'm afraid that was my fault. I had a family emergency that I needed her support for." Wow Loki. What the hell was that. "My mother died." Oh. Damn. We're pulling that card out. Truth, from the god of mischief and trickery.

"I'm so sorry. This is a bad time isn't it?" Pepper stood awkwardly in the doorway, but Loki wrapped an arm languidly around my waist, pulling me back to let Pepper come in more. "I can go…"

"No. Come in. I'll just have to tell you who you're visiting if SHIELD runs this by you." I give her a sheepish smile. I should really stop meeting up with her. "Do you want anything to eat? We might as well order room service, right William?"

He shrugs. "I have that meeting with my faculty supervisor, remember love?" He kissed the side of my neck gently, sweetly even. "Why don't you go out for once?" I feel him whisper against my throat the real point. "I'm going to pretend to be you at your meeting. Send me any information I need," as he kisses my hair near my ear.

"Alright babe," I croon, as he leaves, but not before I give him a tight hug. "Call me."

"Always."

Pepper doesn't stay too much longer after that. She and I never have more than a few minutes stolen here and there. What Tony the arse doesn't knowing won't hurt him. Maybe. I'm never sure what to think when she leaves. Sometimes I'm glad she came, other times I'm not. This time I'm not. 

It bothers me that I have absolutely no clue why Loki was so interested in me not rushing off to meet my contact that he teleported, when we're trying to not use his magic because the little bit he has used since SHIELD hit the ground after Malekith's failed attack has raised warnings. SHIELD did come check out the hotel saying they had a warning that there was "potentially dangerous activity" there. Terrifying. I'd been crazed with worry until Loki had just slipped off and procured us wait staff uniforms.

Loki, or should I say William Darcy, gets back late afternoon, and I'm waiting for him, everything packed, the final details prepared, just waiting for him. I need an explanation. I'd tried to forget about all the weirdness from this morning, but Loki? Nah.

I'd already gotten an angry text from my contact saying that they hadn't been happy that I sent a professor to do my work. I hadn't responded. Apparently William Darcy is the identity of the day for Loki. I just hope it doesn't trace back to our hotel until it's too late to find us here, and of course we haven't given any real information that could lead to our next destination. We're flying to New York via Paris.

He enters finally at dinner, carrying take-out from my favorite sushi place. Buttering me up.

"I know exactly who you are Loki. No lies. No tricks. What was going on this morning?"

He takes a deep breath, handing me my usual order and a wine cooler. He's himself again, black hair, green eyes, but the same elegantly sexy clothing. "We're two tricksters of different qualities. We speak the same language and we have a chaotic plan of chaos in order to get the money we need to disappear forever here on Midgard." He pauses. "And that's not my problem. It's that we occasionally sleep together and never talk about it. We told my mother that we were an item, and well…."

I realize the bottom line. He hated lying to his mother, and he just needed things defined. "Loki…."  
He takes a breath, waiting for something. I look at him curiously, and then it happens. For the first time outside of a con or outside of sex, but it's different this time. It means something other than maintaining a lie or sheer lust

Gods of mischief and trickery save me.

I kiss him back, ignoring the sushi take-out, because it's just awesome raw fish. We go back to the sushi after a few minutes, smiling at each other awkwardly. "So… Mr. Darcy," I begin.

He smirks at me. "At least I said William instead of Fitzwilliam."

"You cad!" I shriek, realizing he'd actually read _Pride and Prejudice_ when I'd convinced Frigga to bring him a copy of it. "You actually read it!"

"I was stuck in the same cell day in and day out. Of course I did." He said, as if it was the most well-known fact in the world.

I laugh as neatly as I can through a bite of sushi, happy for the moment, hoping that it will last and what's broken in the both of us can be repaired. Family problemos and all that.

_Where are you?  
Where are you?  
I'm lost and I need you more than  
A heart upon my sleeve, broken down_

**AN: Heart Upon My Sleeve by Avicii**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four- In Which SHIELD Gains Two Stellar New Agents

_See I've come to burn your kingdom down  
And no rivers and no lakes can put the fire out  
I'm gonna raise the stakes, I'm gonna smoke you out_

"So you did get the Goodnight Cinderella right?" I ask, as I zip up the back of the tight pencil skirt, holding my breath in reflexively, tucking the silken green shirt in neatly, before reaching for the leather blazer.

Loki chuckles from where he lays on the bed wrapped in the sheet, still looking like himself, but with slightly shorter hair, after I gave him a haircut that he asked for. It suits him, and he blends in better with the environment we're working in here. On Earth. "Of course I did. It's in your purse. The hidden pouch."

I shake my head, enjoying the feeling of my hair down before tying up it quickly. "Alright, I'm ready."

He takes a deep breath. "Alright. Once I do this we have half an hour to get out of here before SHIELD gets a strike team here."

"Understood. You'll check us out and then proceed to work?"

"Relax Rhosyn," he said, chuckling lightly. "I made the plan. I'll keep to the plan. How long do you need for the drug to take effect?"

"Not that long. I'm giving him a concentrated dose, and it should start working as soon as I can get him to the apartment." I pick up my purse, slinging it over my shoulder quickly. "Keep an eye out. You may be the god of tricks Loki, but…"

He laughs, getting up, without any shame, padding over on the cold floor to kiss me gently on the cheek. "You take care of yourself Rhosyn."

I'm an idiot, and I just nod. "As long as you take care of yourself trickster."

"Next time I see you we'll be SHIELD agents, con-artist. Don't screw up your end of the deal."

"Relax," I said, as I waltzed out of the room, head held high, slipping around the cameras just like my ex taught me before he went to prison. It wouldn't do for me to be seen with red hair and looking like a woman that SHIELD already probably was looking for.

Everything goes smoothly, or at least that's what Loki says as we pass each other on the way to our seats. The illusion he made wore off before I got here, and luckily I was peeing in the bathroom when it happened, otherwise I'd have had some explaining to do. There's an email from Pepper telling me that Tony's peeved that he can't find me, and the lies I told Ian are busted. She also says Ian mentioned a mysterious boyfriend, so I know that Loki and I don't have enough time left, if we delay at all, we're doomed.

I call Loki's burner phone when I disembark the train in Paris, looking around for him, and not seeing him.

"Just turn around Rhosyn," he says, picking up without a hello or any time for me to talk, hanging up almost immediately. I huff impatiently and turn around, and there he is.

He's changed, and I can tell it's not simply an illusion. He taught me the subtle tells he has, once, when we were bored, and I told him I refused to do anything romantic inclined with him unless I knew he wasn't just a well-crafted illusion. I had spent a few hours on the coast, while he'd gone ahead. He'd used the time well. Jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket wrap around his form as if they're a part of him, and he's gotten his natural hair cut closer to his head, where it lay casually, looking astonishing. There's a scarf draped gently around his neck and the smile on his face tells me the play.

"Darling!" I cry, rushing towards him and wrapping my arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his lips, which move willing under my own, and I want it to be real, but I can never tell. We're both such liars. True, last night, but that was last night. This is tonight.

"It's been so long," he says, pulling back for a moment then burying his head in my neck. "I've got us a flight in three hours," he whispers in my ear. "SHIELD is looking for you, your brother is causing a fuss."

"So we hide under their noses." I smirk, as I lean against his shoulder, while we turn and walk towards the station exit. "You look good."

His face holds a self-satisfied smirk and I love it. He's genuinely happy for a moment, no moping, no mourning. But I know it won't last, and it doesn't. "If only mother could see me now."

"New York looks a bit better than the last time I saw it," Loki said with a blank expression on his face as we get out of the cab outside of our hotel. Hopefully we can get SHIELD sanctioned lodgings, for free, after we check in. The plan is to go to work at 8 am tomorrow morning and become part of the regular faces among SHIELD, conning our way into them believing that we're one of them. When the shipment arrives, in a few days, with the two of us working at our full talent potential, we should be able to at least get close enough to see what's going on.  
"You know we could have just decided to be café workers," I point out, as we walk up to the front desk. "Reservation for two adjoining rooms under Janice Evans." The head of the London stations' travel department. A useful trip.

"And you are Agents Hall and Fitzgerald?"

"Yes." Loki said, flashing a hastily forged badge that I'd made on the flight over. The no magic until the heist rule was frustrating, but it had to be done. SHIELD's new monitors created by my brother and Dr. Banner with the help of Thor were just too good.

"Welcome to New York." The man hands over key cards and gulps. "There isn't an alien attack expected here too right? We just recovered from the last one."

"Those aliens were freaky right?" I give a nervous laugh. "Their boss never touched down on Earth though. He had pawns working for him all along."

Loki gives me a glare. "He's just a front desk clerk. He doesn't have clearance for that Hall."

I huff and grab my suitcase again. "Yes sir." Let the games begin.

"Sorry, we were told we'd get new badges here," I said, pretending to be nervous. "My boss is already inside and…"  
"Just let here in Owen. Her papers check out," a man snaps from behind me, waving his level 7 clearance badge at the scanner quickly and dragging me through hurriedly as he snaps "Ward plus one" at the beeping scanner.

"Thanks," I tell him, glad that I'd left a button or two open on my blouse.

"Grant Ward," he introduces himself, holding out a hand. "Special Operations."  
"Jemima Hall." I introduce myself, reveling in the British accent. "London Security Operations Task Force."

"We'll be working together on guarding the shipment until it reaches the plane I usually work off of. From there Agents Coulson and May will take over primary care and I'll rejoin my team to assist them."

"Shouldn't we wait until we get to briefing?" I raise an eyebrow. "I know my boss is already there waiting. Or at least, my boss for the trip. He's an unsufferable prick really. The power gets to his head."

Grant Ward rolls his eyes. "I want to get this over as quickly as possible. The shipment comes in tonight."

Tonight. Shit. Bad intel. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner. I was informed differently."  
"There's a con-artist who may be trying to get her hands on the shipment. We need to move fast so she doesn't have time. So far there's no trace of her leaving Paris yet."

Of course there isn't, I scoff in my head. I left Paris in one of Loki's illusions, until I was in the airport bathroom getting ready to board, and I avoided the cameras after it. That was a pain to do, until the moment when I boarded. "I understand."  
"You and your superior had no listed contact information."  
"We were on a dark assignment following down a lead concerning a missing agent," I lied smoothly. "We didn't have time to acquire any SHIELD gear before reporting in here. The egotist has his badge though." Translated: we're the con artists, and I only had time to make one passable SHIELD badge before we came here. I'm only mortal and the god doesn't want to use his magic unless it's an emergency, since the illusions are setting off warning lights sometimes.

"Understood. The agent?"

"False alert." I lie, knowing that false alerts are covered up whenever possible, from when Tony had false alerted Pepper as kidnapped once. That had been funny.

We reach the operations briefing center shortly, with nothing else said between us, and he's definitely made a good study of the tops of my breasts. I finger my neck at the spot that Loki had discovered was a particularly sensitive spot for me and smiled faintly. Loki is already there, discussing things with Nick Fury himself like everything is fine. His hair is reddish hued now, more of a strawberry hued auburn, and a beard hides the familiar shape of his mouth. "Agent Hall, you're late."  
"I had trouble with security, because you dragged us here before I could grab my authentication from the fax in the room." I say, with a bit of sass. "Agent Ward got me in." I wonder who the woman is who's sitting awkwardly in a corner, a metal bracelet holding her hand to the wall.

"So….." the woman begins.

"I'll leave you to planning. Agent Fitzgerald, thank you for your update. " With that, Nick Fury swishes out of the room and I drop my jaw.

"That was Director Fury…"

"Shut your mouth. You're collecting bugs."

"So as I was saying," the woman begins again. "I'm here for what purpose or is this just another babysitting detail Agent Ward?"

"Skye…"

Loki smiled. "I'm sure if Agent Ward is fine with it we can use your skills to create numerous false trails for the shipment." Smart. He smiled at her with that winning panty-soaker smile of his and I could see Skye start to think more positively of helping out. I was jealous, but then again, I'd had last night, and if this was necessary to pull this off.

"There's more to this than meets the eye." I point out, realizing that Fury would only be here if we didn't need to use the heist to break in to find something more important to steal.

"Yes," Grant Ward said with a sigh. "We're transporting an extremely important prototype weapon as well."

Bingo.

_They can keep me out  
'Til I tear the walls  
'Til I save your heart  
And to take your soul  
For what has been done  
Cannot be undone_

**AN: Seven Devils by Florence + The Machine**

**Review, follow, favorite if you feel the desire to. I know it's a bit rushing, but I have a plan**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- In Which Skye Figures Something Out

_Pound for pound anywhere you go_

_Yo, ain't no city in the world like this_

_An if you ask how I know I gots ta plead the fifth_

I sat at my station, typing quickly, entering the data that I'd been given to add to the system, and keeping a cool impassive look on my face as I created my own wanted sheet. I doubt whether or not this is really a con, except that I am tricking all these people into thinking I am one of them.

I turn to the side as Clint Barton walks past, headed into the briefing room, where he's about to be debriefed by one Agent Sitwell, who'd spent the past few hours staring down my shirt as he "supervised" the "London methodology." Loki had disappeared with Skye to begin work on the trails, while I had to sit here and do basic data-entry while Agent Grant Ward was off doing all the stuff I needed to be involved in.

"So, I set everything up with the hot guy you showed up with. How can he be a SHIELD agent and be so…refined?" Skye asked, like a curious child, sliding into the seat next to me that had been abandoned by an agent going off duty.

"I'm not privy to that information," I said, tapping send on the wanted sheet, sending it off to the hub for distribution.

"Okay then. I just…" Skye sighed. "I'm finally getting over my ex, and…"  
"Don't tell anyone, please?" I ask her, leaning in close. "He and I are, well…."  
"Oh." Skye looked down for a moment. "I'm kinda hoping to get a thing going with my training agent anyways, and I don't want to mess that all up."

"Got it. I have to finish this before we get to work. You two have everything good to go?"

Skye nodded, but held up her hand. "I can't use the computers here, so he's done most of the work."  
"You win some, you lose some." I said cryptically, wondering how Loki had advanced his computer skills, or if he was resorting to trickery. "Do you know where Agent Ward went?"

"No." Skye shrugged, angry. "I'm not exactly trusted."  
"You and me both honey." I purr, finishing the last of the papers and standing up. "There a place to get a good cuppa tea around here?"

She shrugs. "I know where a good coffee spot is."

"That'll have to do. You Americans…." I keep the fake British accent as straight as I can, but she looks at me funny when I say Americans, because I slip up on the last syllable.

"Are you really British Agent Hall? Or is there something going on?"

I take a deep breath. "I spent some time in the states before I joined shield. American boyfriend," the lie comes off my tongue smoothly. I'm wearing fake prints, courtesy of a foray Loki and I had made in London before the trip to Asgard.

"Got it." Skye said, but I understand that she's not really believing it completely.

I finger my ID badge, wondering if I can make it through the day and long enough to do the heist. I'm a good con artist, but this is bigger game than before. My target is a whole organization, not just a few select people. But then, Loki has conned an entire realm. I guess my fate is in the hands of Loki, god of mischief and lies. My sex buddy.

Its pitch black out as we wait for the shipment. Loki and I, or rather, Agents Hall and Fitzgerald, have been issued standard SHIELD tactical suits, as has Skye. She's stoked to wear it, but I have a feigned indifference. It's not as comfy as Tony's Iron Man suit. I tried it on once when I was actually around. That started the last argument. That letting me near any form of great power is a bad point. It's running late.

I look at Loki, nervous, wondering what's going to happen if someone else gets to the convoy first. I roll my neck, trying to pop it, and Loki lets out a soft, quiet laugh. "Let me," he offers, but I shake my head. I can have him do it properly later.

"It'll be fine. We have a job to do," I remind him.

Agent Ward looks at me, nodding approvingly. Little does he know. Little does he know.

"So…." Skye begins, and I'm beginning to hate that word.

"I'm afraid there's been a change in plans," Loki says with a smile, winking at me. "We've been given opposing orders from Director Fury. That's what he was talking to me about." He climbs into one of the SHIELD vehicles. "He's currently enroute to London, and is not to be bothered. He has a meeting with Asgardian dignitaries to attend to. Skye, try to forget you ever heard that. Agent Hall?" He's imperious as he hits the start button and I gulp. I never actually taught him to drive ever.

"Can you drive?" I whisper, as I shut my door, and he rolls up his window. "I don't want to die."  
"Oh please. How easy can handling this mortal contraption be?" Loki protests, as he floors the gas, the tires spinning for a moment before he ends up back on the road, moving so fast.

"Where's the shipment?" I ask, after I realize that somehow he knows what he's doing. Maybe from one of the minds he enslaved back with the tessaract. I just shove the thoughts aside and hold on, disabling the transmitting tracker as fast as I can, while maintaining the car's ability to travel. "And this was not the plan."

"It changed, based on intel Fury gave to me." Loki laughed, and I couldn't help but smile at him. "It's highly ironic."

"Of course." I snort, feeling frustrated. "Where's the shipment?"  
"It's waiting for us around the corner. I paid off a few cons to do the actually theft so we aren't implicated until Fury gets back from his trip to Asgard."

"They're letting Fury into Asgard? Oh God."

"The best part is I got him to authorize us taking the shipment to it's next destination." Loki said with a smirk. "I am silvertongue after all."

I roll my eyes. "Don't let your ego get to you." He smirked, shifting out of the SHIELD uniform and into his new uniform of a dress shirt and slacks.

"My ego doesn't need to get to me. It is me. I hope you packed a swimsuit Rhosyn."

_Party in the city where the heat is on_

_All night, on the beach till the break of dawn_

_Welcome to Miami_

_Buenvenidos a Miami_

**AN: Miami by Will Smith (I couldn't resist using this song...)**

**Review, Follow, Favorite, etc. It means a lot. Yes, it's short, and the chapters are going to vary in length a lot more now until I'm on hols. It's the final countdown though so woot. **


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six- In Which the Plan is Forgotten

Sleep in peace when day is done

And this old world is a new world

And a bold world

For me

In retrospect, when he said it was Miami, I should have realized it would be a bad idea. My SHIELD burner already has several angry calls from Agent Grant Ward, and one from Skye, who merely told me that I'd better not ruin her chances with SHIELD. I couldn't care less honestly. SHIELD was a bunch of jackals, and besides, they thought my brother valuable, and their actions towards Loki before he was transported back to Asgard with the tesseract by Thor...

Loki and I laundered the cash through several different old contacts of mine down the east sea-board, got rid of everything except the drive containing the weapons plans, and secreted the plans carefully, always taking them with us, in order to avoid them getting stolen by someone raiding whatever dingy hotel room we put up at. We'd lost the SHIELD vehicles within five minutes of hitting New Jersey, replacing them with one dingy little Honda, which I drove, since Loki had turned out to be just as rotten of a driver as I thought he would.

I checked my voicemail in Richmond, and my email in Bethseda. I cancelled my meetings with Pepper permanently in Charleston when Loki decided that it was too risky, after Tony released a public statement removing me from my inheritance. He named me as disgrace, and that he never wanted to hear of me as his sister ever again. I deleted the email account and destroyed the SIM completely, then cancelled the account. I spent the night crying, splurging on a room separate from Loki. He didn't come, claiming that he didn't want to use magic to get in, and that he didn't want to cause a disruption trying to get me to come to the door.

But I heard him through the thin walls, as I leaned against the wall bordering on his room, talking to me, telling me stories from his childhood, lullabies Frigga used to sing to him, and I fell asleep, waking up freezing to hear him still talking, sounding exhausted. He'd stayed awake the next day of Starbuck's iced coffees from the gas station we stopped at to refuel. The zig-zagging pattern we took down the cost was getting old, but sometimes the scenery was beautiful.

Loki admitted that maybe Midgard wasn't all bad in the Appalachians, as we stayed at a tiny log cabin for free, squatting in the rental that no one was staying at, keeping our footprint as minimal as possible, using magic to erase our tire tracks.

Miami was the perfect place to blend in, and hide. I dig in the beach bag and find the suntan lotion, pulling it out and leaning forward, untying the back of my bikini casually, leaving the neck tied to keep it secure. "Can you reapply this for me Will?" I said, since he'd stuck with William Darcy, insisting that he'd only used it with Pepper and at the hotel, and the name William Darcy was probably common enough to stick with. Translated: he loved messing with my mind, and the mind of any Pride and Prejudice fan.

He leaned forward, his sunglasses still on, his shirt off, taking the bottle from me, and starting to apply it. His hands are cold, but soothing in the heat of the Miami sun. "Do you mind putting more on me when you're done?"

"You just got more an hour ago..it takes two, three hours to need a reapplication," I protest. "This stuff is expensive."

"For a former rich girl..."

"I haven't been considered a rich girl for a long time," I hiss, leaning in and grazing his ear gently with my teeth. "You need to understand Loki, I was cut off long before Tony realized that he needed to quit manufacturing weapons and be a better person. I've been on my own financially since I was twelve, except for what Tony gave me in the rare moments when I was behaving."

He hugs, me, retying my bikini for me and passing me the suntan lotion as he pulled back. "I'm not exactly normal you know love."

I laugh, ignoring the discarded magazine and it's stupidity. I'm not an airhead. I smooth the lotion into his skin and lean against him, feeling the smoothness and the hidden scars, breathing in the icy cool that's him. "How much longer do we stay here?"

"Until we figure out what's next."

"No plan? No grand ransom video?" I ask him, as I finish and put the bottle back in the bag. "No take that to SHIELD and to Fury?"  
"No." Loki said with a soft smile. "I don't want that anymore."  
"You're different, ever since that night..." I trail off, thinking of all that I learned about him that night crying on the floor.

"It was cathartic, to talk to someone about all of it, and not be blamed." Loki said. "You never even brought it up. What I've done."

"The way I see it, from what I understand, the people who judge you have pulled the same shit, they just want to pin their hatred of it on you because you're different. And you need to show them you can move on and become what they are-an immortal being, a god, living with the guilt of the past, or the lack of guilt, who has moved on to genuinely care now, or at least so it is hoped."

Loki gave a gentle laugh. "Did the Allfather say anything to you?"

"No. Your mother did." I wait for him to tense, but he doesn't. His eyes just fill up with a pain, no tears, just undiluted pain. "She told me that she loved you, no matter what you said to her, and that you hoped you'd take that love you hold for her and give it to someone else, someone who will believe in you more than she ever did. She regretted not being firmer in protecting you and helping you."

He looks at me and shakes his head. "No more. Please...I..."

The look in his eyes. I reach out and put a hand on his forearm. "Loki?"

"It's Will now. I'm an exile, and that name..."  
"It's your name," I whisper, leaning forwards. "You can't deny it. You're trying to shove it all down and hide it behind the idea of change."  
"You do the same thing," he snipped back at me, his expression not changing from the stunned look of pain.

"You call me by my real name," I whisper, leaning back, startled, nervous, knowing that if he gets mad enough that he might resort to magic and do something to me.

"Rhosyn. Yes, but you hide under so many faces, that I doubt there has ever been a time besides the time I was talking to you through a wall." He paused.

"I answer your questions if you answer mine, but not out here in the open Will." I stress his name.

He stands up, throwing our stuff quickly into our two bags, grumpy and noncommunicative. He picks up both bags, leaving me my shoes and mini shorts, that I pull on quickly, dashing after him, wondering if this is going to end well or poorly.

He reaches the car, a convertible of all things, and sits his ass into the passenger seat, the stuff dumped into the trunk at a speed that would probably raise eyebrows, but in this place, anything seems to go, depending on the signs by the beach, or the neighborhood, the specifics and all. He doesn't wait imperiously like he once did. He puts his face in his hands and his shoulders shake.

I don't say anything, and I merely get in and drive back to the small rental house we procured, under more false names, parking in the garage, and climbing out, starting to get the things out of the trunk and shake the sand out from them.

"Leave it, it can keep, can't it? Or we can get a maid?" His voice is quiet, and the tiny hint of the imperious prince is weak. "Rhosyn...I hate fighting with people I care about, feeling like they don't understand me...you see..."  
"See what?" I ask him, as he doesn't respond, merely turns his head back away from me and gets out of the car, moving to unlock the door.

"I'll have that drink now," he whispered. "That drink from oh so long ago. I'll tell my story now. All of it, not just bits and pieces."

"I think that can be arranged."

I traced a finger delicately over an old scar that Odin had told the healers to leave as a lesson to the young prince who'd strayed too far, for what Odin thought was the last time.

"Loki," I whisper softly, feeling a regular voice would break the mood, as I lean against his shoulder, the coolness of his skin a relief from the muggy Miami weather. "Would you go back?

"I might. But there'd be a price to pay." He sighed. "I'm always going to be a liar and a trickster Rhosyn, it's who I am. I can try starting new, but...I need help, and the true north on my compass is dead."

I shift slightly, fighting the feeling of just wanting to curl up and relax in his arms, so that I can take care of this. "Loki..." I can't find the words to say what I want to say, so I just tilt my head and kiss him, hoping the kiss, as I lose the feeling of wanting to curl up and relax, and start to think maybe another round was in order, hoping it will communicate everything that needs to be said.

"Start over with me."

The words are unexpected and I pause for a moment. "What?"  
"Call your brother. Try to make amends. Then come with me. Start over. Let me show you my world, before everything went wrong." He kisses me again, then nips at my ear gently. "Show me your world. Show me the world I would have so blindly have conquered."

That does it. I kiss him fiercely, not responding, letting my body speak for me. If this be the result of starting over with him, then I'll do it every day.

Stars when you shine

You know how I feel

Scent of the pine

You know how I feel

Yeah, freedom is mine

And you know how I feel

**AN: Feeling Good by Muse**

**The chapter title refers to the content in a way and to what's happened with the plot. My original plans were for a longer, more drawn out fic, with a more extended look into Rhosyn the con-artist and Loki the liar and mischief maker. However, the muses had other ideas, thus this. **

**Review/Comment; Follow; Favorite. Take your pick or do it all. :) I have my tea, and my keyboard. **


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven- In which some time is skipped over

_I pledge my allegiance, to all things dark_

_And I promise on my damned soul_

_To do as I am told, Lord Beelzebub_

_Has never seen a soldier quite like me_

"Stark Industries, this is Clara Owens, Mr. Stark isn't in right now. He's out for surgery."

"Surgery?"  
"Ma'am, I can't give you any more information than that. Mr. Stark's orders." The woman is annoying, and I know that Tony will have programmed Jarvis to keep Loki out, probably with Thor's help to detect magic use. So sending Loki to find out isn't okay.

"Look Clara, my name is Rhosyn Stark, and wherever Tony is, I'm glad he survived the mess on the oil rig, but I need to talk to him. Now."

There's a long pause. "Um...Miss Stark...Mr. Stark didn't leave any protocol for if you called, except to notify the authorities."

"Did he tell you not to tell me that too? I'm sure he would have." A nervous laughter greets my snippy comment. "What's wrong with my brother now?"

"They've devised a way to remove the shards that are being held away from his heart by the reactor. He doesn't want to live with it anymore."

"New York." I pause. "Thank you Clara. I'll be sure to tell him to give you a good severance pay." I slam the pay phone down and turn to where Loki waits, leaning against the car with a worried look on his face. "Let's go. We're out of place in this neighborhood. A fucking pay phone. Really?"

He sighs. "What now?"

"I need the new access codes so I can get to Tony and Pepper. You up for that?" I slide into the driver's seat, tossing my flip-flops into the side pouch and tying my hair up into a messy bun, since we still have a convertible. "All we need is a foot in the door, so anyone's access code will do."

Loki gets in the passenger seat and buckles up, not saying a word. He waits until I've merged onto the freeway, heading towards the next stop on Route 66. It's hot outside, as we pass through Amarillo, and I wonder if this is really the best of ideas. "This wasn't what we talked about."

"I'm a con-artist. It's all I know how to do."

"You know how to do more than that. You were a doctor when I met you." Loki says, slumping in the seat, sulking. He handles the heat worse than I do, and all the vents are blasting towards him. I wonder if we should get rid of the convertible, even though we both adore the flashy Audi.

"I was a doctor who worked for SHIELD patching up spies and agents. I wasn't doing what I wanted."

"You could study more in Asgard, perhaps," he mused, looking through the album of memories we'd started over the past few months.

"Hate to break it to you, but I did help hold Odin captive." I smirk at him. "Anyways..."

"Rhosyn. I'm serious. We're fugitives here, if we go to Asgard to speak to Odin secretly we may be able to get protection here..."  
"And how are we going to get there? SHIELD monitors magic, they monitor the bifrost and those anomalies thanks to Jane and Darcy and..." I take a deep breath, accelerating further past the speed limit, hitting a hundred, hundred and ten.

"There's an Asgardian delegation in London. They're going to go to the Avengers tower in New York at some point, because the Avengers are still there. They've been making public appearances there all month for the anniversary. We fly there, talk to your brother, and piggyback home on the delegation." Loki seemed pleased that he'd thought of something so not complex, not his usual master scheme. The flaws in it were human in nature.

"You're starting to get out of practice. We definitely need to do something," I pull out my phone, still racing along the deserted highway, and start searching for the nearest airport and looking for flights to New York. "We sell the car for money to travel there. We've been living it up way too much."

"I'm a prince. It comes with the title," Loki said, with a pout.

"You're adopted love." I remind him gently. "And remember? We're working on no fancy airs for when you see Odin again. Look good and plead well and all that."

His pout increases and I roll my eyes. "There's a flight out of Houston in six hours. We can make it if I can keep this up without getting caught."

Loki rolls his eyes. "We won't. We're invisible. Just don't hit anything."

"Have I ever?" I retort, reaching over and starting to mess with him, so that he would be silent, well, silent except for what he couldn't control.

"Now boarding, Flight 666 to Topeka Kansas, last call." The airline voice chirps as we step out into the terminal in New York City.

I shiver involuntarily at the number, and wonder if something bad will happen on the flight.

"Listen Loki...about what's been going on," I whisper, as I navigate through the swarms of people, sticking close to him. He's worrying about something.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been myself. My old captor has been trying to reestablish his mental control over me. For that, I have to distance myself from you." He said, turning and clutching tightly at my hand. "Go get yourself in with the ambassadors. Go speak with father. Tell him what I've just told you." And then he's gone.

I somehow make it to the hotel room we booked, a few blocks from the tower, before I break down. I didn't really realize how emotionally attached I was to him, until he'd vanished. Who was is old captor? What did it mean?

I pick up the phone and dial Pepper's cell. It's a number I know by heart, and hopefully I would get a hold of her. Maybe the surgery was over, maybe it wasn't. I didn't care. I needed to hear from Pepper. She doesn't pick up. "Hey Pepper. Will and I just broke up, and I'm in New York. I heard about Tony's surgery and I just...I want to be near family. I'm at the Algonquin under my real name."

I put the phone down, hoping I wasn't going to contract bubonic plague from the germs, and pad towards the shower, not bothering to grab clean clothes from the suitcase I'd dumped on the foot of the bed. I'd wear a towel, put on some pyjamas, and hit the hay before it got too late. I turned the water up to steaming levels of heat, enjoying it. Staying with Loki, the water stayed lukewarm,because the way a piping hot shower would warm my skin up had a negative effect on him when he touched me. I was crying in the water, not caring if it dried out my skin and messed up my pores.

I stayed there until I heard the room phone ringing. I padded out, dripping water everywhere. "Hello?"

"Rhosyn! Thank God you called! I'm on my way to the Algonquin." Pepper's voice is tired, nervous, but happy. "I told Tony. He insists that you come stay at the tower. He needs you to be, well...he'll explain himself when he wakes up for his next series of meds."  
"So he's okay?"

"Yes." Pepper sounds so happy. "You broke up with the dream boat?"

"Sort of. I'll explain more later. Let me get dressed. Room 1642."

"Alright." Pepper hangs up and I bring a sigh of relief.

What did Loki mean? Why did he leave? Why is it safer to leave me bumbling about in the dark, going to Asgard blindly, once again, but without Loki by my side this time? I thought wildly about everything I knew about him as I slipped into a dark green sheath dress, sliding my feet into a pair of Louboutins. Who he was, what he was. What the public thought, what I thought. I'm a con artist. I can read people usually, but so help me, maybe he was what the called him really.

_I'm the fear that keeps you awake_

_I'm the shadows on the wall_

_I'm the monsters they become_

_I'm the nightmare in your skull_

_I'm a dagger in your back_

_An extra turn on the rack_

_I'm the quivering of your heart_

_A stabbing pain, a sudden start_

**AN: When You're Evil by Voltaire**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- In which SHIELD doesn't care

_And we all just entertainers_

_And we're stupid, and contagious_

_Now we all just entertainers_

Natasha Romanoff pursed her lips, not sure what to make of me, I'm sure, as she sat on the other side of the conference table. "Let me get this straight. Stark is deciding to tell SHIELD to leave him alone, and you're going to replace him on the team for the time being."

"Yes." I fidget with my blouse, not used to having it buttoned up so neatly and not for the purpose of conning a man in any way. The slacks are looser than I'd usually wear, and while it feels more free, it still isn't comfortable. "Look, I'm just as confused as the rest of you about his request. I think he just wants me as a placeholder while he recovers and develops a new way to power his suits that won't affect their use."

"You're not trying any tricks?" Thor said, startled, as he checks the time, something that Jane Foster must have taught him how to do. Jane Foster and her intern, Darcy Lewis, would be arriving soon, since SHIELD has recommended Thor move to New York to be with the rest of the team, and SHIELD was going to fund Jane's research, since she and Darcy had an early detection system it seemed, for alien shit coming to bother Earth. They'd be arriving via quinjet, along with the Asgardian delegation, which I'd learnt was led by Fandral, of all the damn people. Probably because of his similarity to Tony.

"I'm reformed." I'm lying through my teeth. I'm just confused, and I miss Loki whispering pranks in my ear, helping me perform them.

"Look, you can stay on as our personal doctor for after encounters, and you can be our messenger to Tony in Malibu." Natasha says, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's what we can do to keep SHIELD from asking too many questions. They leave us alone right now, what with the mess in London still." She picked up a black box from the table, opening it and pulling out a slim black taser, and set of packs for it. "God this is probably a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" A voice chirped, as Darcy walked into the room, making straight for the coffee laid out. "Oh my gosh. There's real coffee. Hey Thor. Jane's on her way. She ran into greeny."

Natasha took a deep breath, and I realized that the taser was Darcy's old one, as Natasha tilted it slightly, examining it, and the little gold notation of "x1 god" was displayed. "Miss Lewis..."  
"It's my taser!" Darcy shrieked, abandoning her coffee, almost fully prepared, to grab the taser from Natasha's hands, hugging it to her chest, a look of happiness coming over her face. I excuse myself silently from the room, knowing that Darcy didn't like me enough before my lies to Ian must have been revealed to her. Only for a moment do I wonder whether or not Darcy having a taser is safe or not. It's better than giving her pepper spray. Unless she gets something like a tessaract powered taser, it'll be a ten second ride. Then it's over. Pepper spray lasts for what seems like eternity.

My suite is not it's own floor, and takes up a quarter of the floor that has the main living room space for the Avengers who hang out here. They have their own rooms and all, for when they get drunk or are lazy, and Thor, Jane and Darcy are going to live here, according to Pepper, but almost everyone else claims possession of some lodging place in some form somewhere else.

"JARVIS, lock the door. Don't let anyone in, no matter what override code Tony or anyone else provides. Don't let them check on me. Just let them know if I'm alive and breathing if they ask. I'll let you know when I need provisions." I need a moment. I don't honestly know if I can go to Asgard, even if Loki practically ordered me to. I just... I need to reevaluate everything.

What if I'm writing too much into this? What if everything Frigga said to me was a last desperate attempt to get someone to care about her son? What if...

Does it matter the warning Loki ordered me to bring to Odin?

Alright girl. Breathe. Make a pros and cons chart Rhosyn.

I pull out an old notebook, the pages already almost full with medical jargon, notes scribbled when I was actively researching an allergic reaction I had to something. I turn to the back and start the list, blasting music and tuning everything out. Working with the Avengers meant that I would have a better chance at making it to Asgard if I played my cards right.

But is that what I want?

I sit in the back corner of the large conference room as the Avengers all sit down, with Fury and Hill, across from the Asgardian delegation, listening as the Asgardian historian debriefs them on what to expect from the leftover debris in London that has been buried, hidden, secured, and etcetera. Sif and Fandral are sitting uncomfortably in a corner, their injuries from the battle gone, but Sif sporting dyed blonde hair. Darcy told me earlier that she'd been dying her hair for a party with a one night dye and Sif had been curious. I wasn't aware that dwarf made hair could be dyed, but go figure.

I kept my head down looking at the papers, not wanting to draw attention to myself until later. Sif and I had gotten along fairly well, but she hadn't fully known my connections to the god of mischief at the time. Odin probably told her. Fandral and I never were formally introduced, and the player has his eyes on Darcy's boobs, so I'm good there. He'll be distracted until Darcy interrupts the meeting to call him out, or until we're dismissed and Darcy calls him out. She told me she's still very much with Ian, he just wasn't in the budget to come here. Jane told me sotto voce that Ian had been pissed that Darcy thought it was cool I was a con artist. I took the praise calmly, not telling Darcy I knew.

"Thank you for your advice," Maria Hill intoned calmly. "We'll take it into consideration as we create our new protocols for these situations. In regards to the military offers from the Allfather..."

Sif sat up straighter, pushing an errant lock out of her face. "We're currently in a time of rebuilding for our army after the losses we suffered in the battle for Asgard. However, the Allfather does give Thor permission to base himself here with Jane Foster and the Avengers in order to provide military aid. Fandral will stay here as diplomat with Stark as host." She held out an official document, the seal of the Allfather on it. "He requests that I stay here for an indeterminate amount of time in order to choose an appropriate ambassador from your people to us."

Maria pursed her lips and looked at Fury, worried. "SHIELD cannot possibly..."

Fury cleared his throat. "That is enough Agent Hill. SHIELD acquiesces, however, we possibly cannot spare a member of the Avengers as our diplomat. Please try to choose someone with level seven clearance at least."

"It is understandable." Sif said with a nod. "I would also like to train with some of your warriors. Learn new techniques."

Fandral scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'd like to see some of the parties here on Midgard, while you're making the list Sif."

Sif rolled her eyes, and I couldn't help but let out a short bark of laughter. Especially as Darcy stood up excitedly.

"There's a club opening a few blocks from here tonight. I can take you. It's the go to scene to drink and dance here on Earth." Darcy chirped, her excited movements causing her boobs to draw Fandral's attention. "You'll need Midgardian clothing."

I close my eyes against the memories of the first time I took Loki to a club. The search for an alcoholic drink he could call his favorite, once he heard that most people did. His search for belonging, as I took him places, and slowly fell for the awkward mischievousness that was Loki. Then Thor was banished. Odin fell asleep, and he changed. Maybe over the months since the last time I was in New York, I thought I'd started to have that Loki back.

"Will the Lady Rhosyn be joining us?" Fandral asked the question innocently.

SHIELD and their representatives didn't blink. They just looked at me, in my corner. And I had the gall to nod. "If you require my presence, m'lord."

He blinked at me, startled by my demeanor, and I knew. I knew that Odin had told them who I was, and that he'd told them who Frigga hoped I would be. They didn't expect me to have respect for them anymore.

Because of who I chose to love.

_You get the air out my lungs whenever you need it_

_And you take the blade right out my heart just so you can watch me bleeding_

_I still don't know why_

_Why I love you so much_

**AN: Holy Grail by Jay-Z Feat. Justin Timberlake**

**Not my usual taste in music, but the radio threw it at me and it stuck. **

**Review/Follow/Favorite if you feel so inclined.**

**Hugs and a cuppa tea (or coffee or your beverage of choice) from me to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited, along with whatever your favorite desert is. **


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9- In Which Sif Procures Me Diplomatic Immunity

_One more drink, then I swear that I'm going home,_

_Truth is, I don't really have a place to go,_

_So pour me, pour me, pour me another._

The music pulsed around me in the club, and I adjusted my dress as I stood up from the bar, holding onto the tray of drinks I'd picked up, making my way back to the table where Darcy, Fandral and Sif waited. Sif had come along with a significant look at me, telling me that she wanted to talk. We'd fought next to each other, we'd swapped advice on men to each other. We'd discussed beauty and the merits of certain types of armor. All when I had merely been a woman that Frigga trusted. And in service to her queen, Sif trusted me too.

"Here we go. Shooters for Fan and Darce, Jager for Sif, and my usual for myself." I hand out the drinks efficiently, remembering my time working at a bar fondly. That had been how I'd met Loki after all. I lie though about what I'm drinking. It's not my usual. It's Loki's. I miss him.

Sif took a sip and gave a slightly unimpressed look. It's her seventh Jager. I'm impressed. "You usually drink so little here?" She's seen me drinking at a feast.

"Options aren't as good here," I lie again, hating myself. "How are things Sif?" I feel it's safe to talk to her since Darcy and Fandral are knocking back a multitude of different types of shooters, all on SHIELD's bill, with increasingly sexual names. Jane is right. Ian is history.

She shrugs, looking at her glass. "The Allfather told me who you left with and what happened. I was enraged initially. Then I heard what Loki had done right before leaving."

"Besides the little heist?" I ask her, presuming the Allfather had mentioned Loki and I had stolen a few artifacts of some importance.

"Heist?" Sif raised a newly blonde eyebrow and I gulp. Apparently that wasn't what the Allfather had mentioned. "I was referring to Loki's term as king. He did well."

I knock back the rest of my drink fluidly. Loki had just gotten a compliment from Sif of all people. "Forget what I said. Listen, I'm sorry to have betrayed your trust, I just wasn't sure how to explain who I was to the situation at hand..."  
"No. It's fine." She shrugged, rather sheepishly. "I will be honest. I do not trust you as I did before, but I honor and respect your abilities as a warrior." She drank some more, and looked pointedly at my completely empty drink. "Are you going to drink any more?"

I shake my head. "Not now."

Darcy and Fandral get up, Darcy giving a slight stumble, already drunk to a minor degree. I should probably keep an eye on them, but I want to talk to Sif. It's the most normal thing I've done in a while, and it reminds me of the time I spent learning to fight, learning to defend myself.

"Should we follow them?" Sif asked, her eyes tracking their progress towards the dance floor, where Darcy tries to teach Fandral how to grind. As soon as Fandral figures out how sexual it is, he'll be fully on board. I give it five minutes. Tops.

I shake my head in response. "They're going dancing. We can watch them from here."

"If you say so," she said, finishing her own drink. "Get into any good fights?"

Natasha looks at me, curious as to why I'm in the room, as she lays out the weapons that she brought to show Sif. "Stark. What are you doing here?"

"I should probably take a refresher course." I lie.

Sif looks at the weapons with a curious look. She picks up the Kalsashnikov curiously and I close my eyes, willing the safety to stay on and for it not to fire. It doesn't, and Natasha takes it gently.

"This is what we call an AK-47. It was first developed by the people we call Russian back at the end of the war we call our second world war," Natasha says, with a calm demeanor. "Do you want to start here?"

Sif nodded.

I sit and watch, taking pictures occasionally, videoing her as she does the standard crazy spray with the AK right before Natasha leads her out to the practice rings. Hand to hand combat. The part of the show where I'd rather be involved. Of course, I need to lay low. Sif's recommendation. Fandral agreed, once he emerged from Darcy's room.

Natasha slows her pace down, teaching Sif some tips and tricks from the arsenal of the black widow, and soon everyone is watching. I just float to the back, and slip away.

We go out clubbing again that night. Everyone does. Tony insists I carry him with us on my iPad, as he sits in bed, doing paperwork for Pepper in his infinite boredom, in Malibu. He sips at a soda while we drink. Sif is rambling non-stop to Fandral about the automatic weaponry, wondering if anything even remotely close can be used in Asgard without being crass. I shrug it off. I know Odin would rather put Loki on the throne, again, then allow guns on Asgard. It doesn't fit the decor.

"Any progress on finding an ambassador?" Steve asks Sif, as the three of us, with no help from Fandral, who is focused only on Darcy and a blonde bimbo who Darcy is friends with, work on getting our drunk companions out to the SHIELD SUV waiting for us.

"I already have the person I want picked out. I'm waiting for the Allfather to grant approval," Sif reveals, giving me a significant look. Another gulp. I don't really want to see Odin anytime soon. "I need to speak with them personally before I announce anything, if the Allfather feels I have made a good choice."

"You spoke of choosing someone with prestige so that Asgard will respect them?" Clint asked, fingering the pocket where I knew he had hidden a weapon or two. He was in regular clothes, we all were, but his were slightly looser than they could be.

Steve nods. "What do you even mean by that?"

"Asgard has several ways someone can gain prestige," Sif began, and I recognized the tone, turning instead to the drinking crowd, grabbing salt, lime and tequila and joining in merrily. Just like the little chameleon that I am. I leave the iPad and Tony's presence with the serious ones, and as I sucumb to the buzzy feeling of the alcohol in my system, I can't help but remember the look on Loki's face as he issued me that warning to give to Odin.

If Loki wants to warn Odin, it has to be bad.

It's that thought that wakes me up, bolt upright, from the sleep I'd thrust myself into with a load of benadryl, in an attempt to alleviate the hangover that I knew was waiting for me. I'm dizzy from my headache, and confused, because the room is cold as ice.

"You need to get yourself to Asgard quickly," Loki whispers in my ear, the cold coming from his skin as he presses a kiss to my forehead, the throbbing leaving it, but I'm still dizzy. "We have even less time than I thought." He presses a jewelry case into my hand, a necklace box. "Give this back to him. Do not open it. Do not think about it. Do not tell anyone you have it. Not even Sif." He presses a kiss against my lips, forceful, dominant, but so lonely. I kiss him back, even though I can tell he's not really here, just an illusion summoned to deliver the box to me.

"I miss you," I whisper against his neck as he hugs me to him tightly, in a move that startles me.

"Arm yourself my lady." He whispers. "The blast of war blows in our ears."

And then he's gone, warmth beginning to seep back into the room, and I'm left holding half of our heist. The half that Loki refused to explain ever. "You're a right bloody bastard sometimes Loki you jerk. But I still love you." I whisper the last part as softly as I can, not knowing if JARVIS or anyone else was listening.

I pad softly towards the bathroom, tucking the case in my satchel as I walk past it, forcing myself to think of something else other than the visit or the box. Everything seems silent ,and I use the bathroom mirror to pull up the security for the building, adding a little tiny bug to prevent anyone from seeing the energy fluctuation that was Loki's quick little visit in the form of nothing. The box is putting out a slight bit of energy that isn't normal, so I mask that after I finish brushing my teeth, as I start the shower, choosing to fiddle with the faucet to get the right temperature rather than ordering JARVIS to make it the right temperature. Tony and everyone really do overwork the poor AI way too much. He may just be an artificial intelligence, but I can be nice, can't I?

I have a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach as I curl back up in bed, the bed suddenly seeming too big, as I reach for a pillow, hugging it close, wishing it were the cool presence from earlier. Sleep doesn't come, so I open my suitcase, opening up the false bottom, pulling out the clothes Frigga had had commissioned for me, slipping on the corset, buttoning it up, loving the way the coat clings to my figure, wishing that Loki was here to magic the buttons all fastened slowly and quickly.

I slip on the leather pants that go with it, glad for their simplicity, and throw on a pair of heeled boots I bought at the rack the other day. I had to leave the boots behind when I left. Nature of the beast and all of that. Hopefully they'll be waiting for me where I left them. Why would someone mess with Loki's shit anyways?

The daggers though-they're here, and I put them on, hiding them in their hidden sheaths, since the rest of my weapons are still on Asgard as well. I feel only slightly better, arrayed like this. "Hello darling," I purr, as I look at myself in the mirror.

"I'm surprised you brought that with you here to Midgard," Sif's voice is gentler than I've ever heard. "I feel that something is off."  
"I need to get to Asgard. I have a message for the Allfather." I sling my satchel over my shoulder and shove my hair back out of my face. "And a return. Or maybe an exchange. Not sure."

Sif just nods, her Asgardian apparel looking better on her than the regular clothes she'd been wearing last night. "I have already left a message stating that you are to be our ambassador. We can leave from the roof of here, right?"

"Eh, I own stock in the place still. Sure." I look around the room for anything I might need, then smash my phone, drowning the SIM in the bathroom sink quickly. "Alright. Let's go."  
Sif just nods, walking out, almost as if she's my escort, as we slip through the four am quiet of the tower. "The message is from Loki, is it not?" She asks, as we wait for Fandral to get dressed and write a note for "Lady Tits" as he calls the hooker he brought back with him. I just roll my eyes and avert them from seeing the display Fandral puts on. Both Sif and I avert our eyes, actually.

"Yes." He didn't say not to tell her the message was from him. Maybe this wasn't a smart idea though, I think, as Sif tenses, but I realize it's just because Fandral is back and stealth isn't necessarily his strong suit.

"If he sends a message to Asgard to the Allfather than it must be serious." Sif drags me towards the balcony and I realize that she's on board with the urgency now. Fandral is still fastening his belt as the bifrost snaps us up, and I close my eyes, holding tight to the strap of my satchel, willing myself to land on my feet and not puke my guts out.

I don't expect the reception that awaits me on the other side.

I guess I won't be having that conversation with the Allfather any time soon.

"I have diplomatic immunity!" I squeak. Thanks Sif.

_When you fell from the top, boy you better believe,_

_At the bottom, they got just, yeah, just what you need,_

_Well at the bottom, you can't swim 'cause you drank up the sea,_

_Then we stop and we look up to the sky._

**AN: Pour Me by Hollywood Undead**

**Sorry if spacing is wonky. Google docs is being a little bee with an itch. **


	11. Chapter 10

C

hapter 10- In Which Odin is Not His Usual Pissed Off Self

But my heart was colder when you'd gone

And I lost my head but found the one that I love

Under the sun, under the sun

"Welcome back to Asgard, Rhosyn Mariadottir." Odin intones solemnly, watching as I'm cuffed in heavy cuffs I've seen used only on the most dangerous of prisoners. "You need not invoke your diplomatic immunity. This is merely a precaution." He turns and one of his minions brings him a small glass vial with a jeweled stopper. "This is a potion designed for Loki in order to stop any illusions he makes in situations where illusions must be stopped."

I nod at him sarcastically, tilting my head to one side. "Lady Sif did just tell me I'm to be the ambassador, so you place ambassadors in chains and show off your potions?"

Sif clears her throat and puts a warning hand on my arm. "Allfather," she acknowledges, excusing herself and Fandral from the room, taking most of the guards with them.

Odin waits until they are out of range before unstoppering the vial and holding it out to me. "No, but due to your close association with Loki Laufeyson I must have you drink this and spend the night in a holding cell to ensure you are not a trick."  
"I will, but before you do, in my bag, there is a box. It's for you. Compliments of Loki. He also gave me a message to give to you."

Heimdal reaches into my satchel, an item that was already taken from me and pulls out the box, a puzzled look on his face. "I cannot see Loki and thus did not see the message nor the delivery of this box, but it radiates a raw energy..." He starts to open it and then stops. "Allfather, I cannot open this. It's identity..."  
Odin looks at me with a curious look. "So Loki Laufeyson trusts you as a courier and a messenger, and sends this with you to prove his sincerity?" He releases a short bark of laughter. "What is this message Loki Laufeyson sends?"

I gulp, resisting the urge to finger the location of the knives that I conceal, knives that had been passed over somehow in the cursory search the guards had done as they had cuffed me. "He said to tell you exactly what he told me before he left me at the airport in New York. He told me that his old captor was trying to reestablish mental control over him." I hesitate, unsure if I should continue, watching the way Odin was clenching his weapon, and watching the slight bulging of a vein in his neck. "And when he sent an illusion to deliver the box to me, he told me personally a warning, that I feel he means for you as well."

"He has already delivered to me a great power that he stole a long time ago from me, and I in my folly allowed him to keep." Odin's vein is definitely bulging, and his knuckles are white clenching his weapon. "I see his warning as a reminder of his side of his involvement with the Chitauri and an attempt to warn me."

"That something wicked this way comes," just like Tony, I can't resist a good opportunity when I see one. "He bade me arm myself as the blasts of war blow in our ears."

Odin spun around, grabbing me swiftly by the shoulders. "Are those his exact words Rhosyn Mariadottir? Are they?"

I panic, as I feel the strength in the man's grip, and I see Heimdal gripping his sword as if ready to do battle. The vial has dropped to the floor, abandoned, and the liquid is pooling out into a small hissing puddle. "Yes?"

Odin releases me and indicates at my chains to a guard who had remained within visual range. The man rushes forward and unchains me, and I stereotypically rubbed at my wrists. "You have no doubt left things in Loki's chambers that you will need to be ready to fight?" Odin asked calmly, not explaining anything, as he stalked out to where Sif and the rest waited with the horses.

"Hold on. What?"

"The words Loki spoke to you are a code as old as time between couples in the royal family that each child chooses with their mother or father at an early age. That was Loki's. The code is used only in times of duress, or if a greater foe than has been faced in recent history approaches and they are unable to do their duty to defend Asgard for various reasons. Short version, I believe is what you mortals would call that?"

"Jane?"  
"The very same. Lady Foster is highly intelligent. She is growing on me." Odin admitted, as I mounted my horse, that was placed next to him. "I wonder highly as to the circumstances that enabled Loki to speak those words to you."

"Ummm..." Flashes of bright neon lights and Clint Barton with very blue eyes and a hatred for SHIELD come to mind and I smile, realizing I'd completely forgotten what had happened that night in Las Vegas, when Loki and I first met. "Loki and I jumped the gun a little bit when we first met." Whoops. "Midgardian phrase. We rushed into some shit."

Odin doesn't respond for a few minutes, as we reach the stables and dismount, grooms taking the horses. "Ready them for war," he tells the grooms, and I gulp. What's going on Loki? Where are you? "I have no hard feelings about the actions you and Loki took that last day you were here." Odin begins solemnly, as we enter into the throne room, where Volstagg and Hogun, along with the other important warriors wait. "Sif. Return to Midgard and fetch Thor."

"He needs to stay there and protect Jane. She's on the map now." I point out calmly. "Also, Loki's old boss did go after Earth once already. He must know that Thor frequents the place, and killing your biological son is debilitating to you."

Odin looks at me curiously as Sif waits,in limbo, for the news as to if her orders change. "You speak wisdom for one who possess a life of deception." He pauses for a moment, looking out over a view of Asgard from one of the palace balconies. "Sif, Fandral, take a contingent of warriors who can blend in smoothly, who aren't well known, and go back to Midgard. Defend Thor and Lady Jane at all costs. You are authorized to inform him of his brother's survival, and watch for signs of Loki's presence." Odin heaved a sigh, continuing onwards towards wherever his destination was. I followed only because I did not know whether or not I was dismissed to fetch the rest of my weapons, and the small bit of armor that I had left to add-added protection for my shoulders, vambraces, and a few other tidbits of armor that Loki had scrounged up for me when he'd come in, quickly, in the dark, bidding me adieu, promising we'd meet again, telling me where he was headed with Thor. Thor lingered in the doorway, just out of earshot, and I'd accepted the old seconds gratefully. I'd already been in one fight unprepared.

Sif and Fandral depart. Sif squeezes my shoulder quickly as she walks past me, a promise that she'll protect those I care about on Midgard and that she'd make sure I had a place to go home to. "Do I have your permission to acquire the rest of my gear?" I ask, after we reach the throne room, and Odin hesitates.

"You do. What happened on Midgard when my son was under mind control?"

"Something I do not know if he remembers and something I will not speak of unless he brings it up first." I turn on my heel, knowing that there's a guard right after me, accompanying me.

Odin nods. "Heimdal does not know what transpired between the two of you, but whatever it was that inspired the words Loki spoke, against my commands, to Frigga, Frigga considered you the reason he started coming back from the hell he was in."

I don't respond, unsure how to process it all. So I just turn, winding through the hallways, hallways I thought I'd never see again, to the room where I'd hidden my things.

The room is exactly how I left it, unchanged, save for the fact that someone made the bed, and the bloody clothing we'd left behind is folded, clean, on the foot of the bed.

I slip out of the heeled boots, my feet relieved, as I swap them out for the old pair of boots of Loki's, that he outgrew probably a few centuries ago, that he'd saved because they'd been a gift from Odin. I'd worn them before and no one had noticed or said anything. I fasten the protective spelled necklaces around my neck quickly, before strapping on visible knives,a visible sword, and the bits and pieces of armor.

Then I sit on the couch in the small library alcove he has started, and wait for the inevitable summons.

Odin himself comes to get me, arrayed fully for battle, accompanied by his guard. "Come. There's something in the armory that you will need."

"I'm Midgardian. I cannot wield your weapons." I say, trying not to sound defiant, but it doesn't work.

He lets out a cynical bark of laughter. "The similarities between you and Loki..."  
"Shocking, isn't it?" I pause, wondering where he's going with this.

"Loki will manage to make it here to Asgard at some point. If he is truly embattled, he will search for a friendly host to throw himself into, to hide from the powers that control him, to hide in someone else's mind. I have a fortifying elixir that will make it so that it is less painful for you, and I will give you access to what he will need to turn the tide." Odin holds out a slightly less disgusting looking vial, of a similar style to the other one.

"And this is not a trick?" I'm suspicious, given the strange way things are.

"No it isn't."

"I doubt this is how you treat ambassadors who call diplomatic immunity usually," I quip, before downing the elixir, shaking off the taste with a bite of my tongue.

Odin sighs. "You even jest in the face of death. You are a female version of my son. Why I trust you with this must be for the sake of Frigga." He opens a vault container, pulling out a familiar sceptre, the blue stone in it missing, and the tessaract. "I shall leave the tessaract here, but memorize where it is. Loki will want to use it. If he sends you into his own body, do your best not to get caught. It is dark magic to swap souls."  
"Yet you are preparing for it." I'm confused, but then, I usually am.

"Yes. Without darkness, light cannot prevail in this case."

"And you got mad at your adoptive son for a bit of mind controlled darkness and for wanting to please you by serving up your enemies on a gilt platter?"

Odin looks at me, with a look that could kill if I gave a care. I clasp the necklace that holds, hidden, the one piece of jewelry Loki ever gave me that wasn't exclusively for protection necessarily, but for communication, as Odin leaves me standing there holding onto the sceptre.

Wherever you are Loki, I'm waiting for you to come here, because Odin is being nice, which is weird, and I've come to realize something. I can't do not being in trouble. It's discomforting.

I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I could swear I heard Loki's laugh in my ears, and his voice telling me to join the lifer's club.

I laugh softly, leaving the room, memorizing the tessaract's location, the sceptre strapped to my back and my sense of high alert. I have no clue what to expect, but I don't expect it to be good at all.

_Pick up your clothes and curl your toes_

_Learn your lesson, lead me home_

**AN: Whispers in the Dark by Mumford & Sons**

**To anyone who is confused by the beginning or parts of the story: I deliberately leave shit out because honestly, a little guessing game is fun, and it's the way I write. I apologize for any confusion, and if you send me a pm or whatever they're called on this site, I can clear stuff up. I'm rushing a bit towards my end game because I'm going through some weird shit personally and I want to finish this before I go to the plot bunnies the weird shit has provided, that I'm happier with than this out of control plot bunny. **

**I may put up the rejected scene where Rhosyn became queen temporarily and brought Tony to Asgard sometime. My sanity changed that to this. **


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- In Which A bit of Shit Goes Down

_Don't need reason_

_Don't need rhyme_

_Ain't nothin' that I'd rather do_

I hovered in the mass by the palace entryway, feeling vaguely reminiscent of Helms Deep, waiting for instructions on which group of warriors I'm to join. One of the few spell casters present had already given me an amulet at the direction of Odin that hid the sceptre from view, and I was comforted that I had that secret burden on my back that I could turn to in desperation, and that reminded me of why I was here and not in a bar or office or bank back on Earth, spinning a web of lies for a living. The scary thing is that I'm not sure if I miss it or not. I miss the rush, the thrill, but I was barely coping on my own before I met Loki and Clint Barton, when they came into the rental shop I was working at, trying to get ahold of a Lamborghini for a job, and told me they needed several large work vans, and then, while Barton was off getting the vans and loading equipment into them, equipment produced from who knows where, Loki had leaned in and told me that, if I was up for a thrill, he wanted to rent the forest green Aston Martin out front and he demanded I come with him, if I'd just unbutton my blouse a few buttons and climb in the passenger seat. My name tag said Julia, but the moment Barton was out of range, Loki had whispered in my ear "Rhosyn Stark, you speak my language well. You seek revenge, let me give it to you."

And so it began.

I never did get instructions on where to go and what specifically to do, chaos erupted before that could happen. The Chitauri had come to get revenge, propelled forwards by their new leader, some random person who was yet another minion. I didn't understand it all, but I only know rudimentary bits of the language here. So I just attack, knifing, stabbing, fighting my way towards the area where I see the royal guard. Somehow I feel like getting there and making sure Odin stays alive, even with all the shit he's responsible for, will be a way to get a renewed chance at shit.

I wonder how Sif and Fandral are coping on Earth. I wonder where Loki is. But I don't wonder for long, I just fight.

It's been several hours already by the time I reach Odin, where he's craftily sliding his way back towards the throne room, realizing that the fight isn't going well because of some sort of spelling on the Chitauri's most formidable warriors. He acknowledges my presence with a nod, as I take the place of a fallen member of the royal guard, killing a few Chitauri quickly before they can kill me. I'm already injured. I should go to the healing room set up in the bowels of the palace, but I need to stay out here and fight.

"Where's Heimdal?" I ask, as I help Odin block the throne room entrance to allow more time for a quick assessment of the injuries to the guard. Most of Asgard's forces have already fallen back.

"He's at the bridge. He's trying to get Thor back here."

"Thor won't be that much help. Have any of the spellcrafters figured out what's blocking us from taking down the special ones?" I grab one of the stashes of bandages and help one of the Aesir bind up an injury that will need some time to heal.

"Not that I'm aware of." Odin sinks into his throne, and I can tell that he's not in the shape he was when the stories of his battle prowess were written. "This will have to be our last stand." The last bit is whispered low, as I approach him to check if the blood on his armor is his or just that of the guardsman he had helped in here.

"Last stand?" I look at him, incredulous, realizing I'd have to do something to stop this. "What about the whole Ragnarok thing?"

He shakes his head sadly. "You are a Midgardian. Your years are too few to understand the politics and the depravity of what now occurs."

"Alright. I totally get the Shakespeare in the park thing with Thor, but seriously? You know I'm Midgardian. Can you make some sense please?" I hiss at him, wishing I could do something better than turn on the Stark charm. I'm tired, the sceptre on my back is killing my shoulders, combined with the fighting, and I just want a hot bath. "This is war. This is Asgard. Asgard cannot give up."

The doors rumble with the approach of the boss dude, for what my exhausted mind simply calls the boss fight. The guardsmen still able to stand form up and I roll my eyes. "Hide behind the pillars," I call out, as I draw my last resort-the knives Loki had given me from his own personal stash. "Don't you guys know about guerilla warfare?"

"About what you Midgardian..." The doors slam open, killing the mouthy guardsman, and I duck behind a pillar near the throne, one that I wouldn't be surprised has hidden Loki and Frigga before as they worked their spellcraft to protect Odin and Thor during negotiations or other such nonsense. I'm a conartist. From Earth. I should have never gotten in that car in Las Vegas, because now I'm stuck in an alien city that's under siege and I'm probably never going to get home again. As I clench my hands around the hilts of my daggers, waiting for the soldiers to be close enough, I wish I had magic, and I remember a passage of Shakespeare I'd quoted at my students when I'd conned my way into a position as an English teacher to get access to the schedules of a wealthy brat whose father thought could keep some valuable jewels safe in his backpack, without telling the kid, of course. If we are mark'd to die, we are enough to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor. Shakespeare. Ugh. I hated the bard in school, and I hated teaching hi, but with the whole Shakespeare in the park thing it seems to fit.

I whisper the bit of Shakespeare under my breath and close my eyes for a moment, wondering if the preparations Odin took are for nothing. The guardsmen are all dead as the Chitauri approach, and Odin stands up, swinging Gungnir viciously. I dive into the fray, taking out the Chitauri quickly, efficiently, having found a partner of deadly velocity over the course of the hours of the battle. I don't see the first blade coming, or the second, as the last of the Chitauri fall and the boss fight begins. I don't realize it until I crumple down in pain, whimpering, to my disgust, as the boss stands there facing Odin, who is doing a serious bad ass motherfucker posing shit to counter the boss' similar stance.

I can hear the whirring of the bifrost in the distance, and the sound of the engines in Tony's suit as spots start to flicker before my eyes, and the two in front of me start to circle each other, looking for the opening to attack. I hear the ring of Mjolnir, and the cheers from outside that Thor is back. I start to feel detached as Thor rushes in and a look of glee appears on the boss' face, as Odin's bravado seems to crumple. "Leave Thor," he cries, but too late, as Thor takes a few blades to his own body, effectively crippling him. I'm filling dizzy and suddenly, for a moment, I see myself, lying there on the ground, my injuries starting to knit together somehow, my eyes fucking changing colors before I find myself looking up at Natasha Romonov offering me a hand.

"Come on Loki," she says. "Thanks for dropping the magical shielding on the leviathans and the special forces Chitauri. We can take them down now with Stark and Banner's assistance in bringing them down to us. I can't believe I'm thanking you."

I gulp, looking down at my body to see Loki's armor, and to realize that I'm suddenly fucking over six feet tall. Shit. I feel woozy and I stumble, leaning on Natasha for a moment. My head fucking hurts. "Your thanks are irrelevant," I sneer, in my best Loki impersonation, feeling startled to hear my voice coming out of Loki's body. "Oh shit. What the fuck Odin. Nat, did you recalibrate my head?"

"Rhos? What the fuck are you doing in Reindeer Games' body?"

"One sec I was dying now I'm fucking here," I respond to Tony's query as I whirl around, grabbing one of Loki's knives from it's hidden sheath and decapacitating the Chitauri that had attempted to kill Natasha and I from behind. "Heimdal still alive?"

"He went with Sif and Fandral to the vault." Steve's voice comes through loud and clear, and I wonder if everyone is here.

"Thor's down. Odin's about to be, and if I'm in Loki's bod, then he's in mine. And I'm down for the count." I update them as I step out onto the bifrost. "We need to overload the portal. Do Sif and Fandral have an earpiece?"

"I do!" Fandral cried in my ear. "It is good to hear your voice Lady Rhosyn. Your presence in Loki's body is disturbing."

"I have a dick. Yeah that's disturbing. Get to the hidden vault room. Heimdal should be able to get in probably. He's freaking Heimdal. 524891. It's the tessaract. Bring it to me Fandral and send Sif to the assembly room behind the throne room. The guard is supposed to be mustering there to try to breach the throne room, if they're going by the old battle plans from the last invasion."

"Sis? You know what you're doing." Tony isn't asking a question. "And the last time?"

"You tune out of my life you miss shit. I've been taking deviance lessons."

"Oh god. You're fucking Loki?"  
"Actually..."

The conversation trails off as I join the Avengers in trying to make a dent in the Chitauri forces while trying not to fall off the bifrost in my new freakishly tall form.

I won't focus on recounting the horror of the battle and what had to happen. I just want to slump further down into the chair I'm sitting in at Volstagg's favorite tavern, and be able to gulp down the mead in front of me, instead of sipping at it delicately, not wanting to have to deal with going to the bathroom as a guy.

"Drink up Loki! You have played a great part in our victorious triumph!" The clueless idiot boomed between drumsticks, and Fandral looked at me with an amused look on his face, the rest of the Avengers having also been privy to my Stark rant (TM) about no one telling anyone it's me in here. Instead, I'm pretending like I'm here on an oath that I won't speak, until I can get debriefed by Odin.

Odin's not doing so hot. He's in the Odinsleep or something like that. Thor told us that much before he had to go into his own little coma. Sif asked after me, and was met with a bemused expression. "Lady Rhosyn," Thor had said with a confused expression, "has been sent to talk to some of our allies re assistance in manning the defences until we are better stabilized." That was it. The fucktard ran off with my boobs and now I'm stuck with his junk. Literally and metaphorically, if you will. And I still miss him. I want to kiss him-not in my form, that'd be too weird, but kiss the lips that I currently possessed. I take a drink of my mead and wish that I could slip away, but I'm supposed to be under the care and keeping of Nat and Tony.

"So, I'm sort of skipping out on an important date with Pepper right now," Tony announces, as he snatched my mead away from me. "So if Reindeer Games doesn't want his booze, I'll take it." He gives me a wink, and I realize that the brat is actually being nice to me. Since when is my brother nice to me.

Volstagg starts to protest, but I hold up a hand and clear my throat, willing myself to sound as much like tired Loki as I can. "I'm not in the mood." I stand up, and go to leave. "I'm going to bed. My quarters were not damaged."

Time for a remodel. Stark style. If he's going to leave me in this state, I'm going to get a bit of revenge. Tony gets up and follows me, his suit clanking, holding onto another cup of mead in one hand and his helmet in the other. "I've got this here. Unless you want to go a few rounds with the Lokester here. In which case I'll still come along." Oh God. Trust Tony to suggest Nat wants to fuck Loki while I'm in Loki's body. He would think that kinky.

We make it out of the main area and are in the halls leading to Loki's lair when Tony just hugs me. "Okay sis, you called, you cared, Pepper filled me in."

"Umm..."

"Thor and I started the bad older siblings club. We're committed to fixing our relationships. Jane and Pepper thought we should."

"You two on the couch?" I say, pulling away from the awkwardity as fast as I can.

"Yep. And Thor is being deprived of pop tarts."

"You wanna help prank Loki for leaving me here with his body while he runs off with mine?"

"Orgy?"

"Remodel."

"Of his body?" Tony looks a bit horrified.

I throw open the doors to Loki's sanctuary. "Nope. It's time we give the batcave a new do."

Tony smirks at me and powers up his suit. "Stark chic?"

"Yep."

"I'll put the supplies on the list for the care package that Fandral is going to go pick up in about half an hour from the bifrost site. Darcy will have our backs on this one." Tony grins maniacally. "Will you come to a bad siblings anonymous meeting with me?"

"Oh God. Are there cookies?"

_Nobody's gonna slow me down_

_Like a wheel_

_Gonna spin it_

_Nobody's gonna mess me around_

**AN: Highway to Hell by AC/DC**

**So this chapter is a result of writing it not in one sitting, and deciding my plan wouldn't work in Rhosyn's POV, and I hate writing Loki's POV because the prep work for it (perfectionist here) takes me down the RABBIT ala Pacific Rim style. What the bloody fucking hell happened with Loki/ Rhosyn and the great body swap of Asgard War 3579 million will be explained. **


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12- In Which Rhosyn Gets Revenge

_You can't hide your lyin' eyes_  
_And your smile is a thin disguise_  
_I thought by now you'd realize_  
_There ain't no way to hide your lyin eyes_

I wake up in the house in Miami, a large SOLD sign marring the front lawn, the car we'd abandoned in Texas now parked in the garage. I'm no longer dressed for battle, instead wearing an Asgardian style dress. Just a simple green dress, but I've still got my boots-cleaned from the blood of the battle. I want to feel annoyed that I've been bathed and changed, but the fact that he took me here, and somehow the house has been purchased...

A pair of SUVs pull up outside and I gulp, expecting SHIELD, but the real estate agent Loki and I had spent time hiding from when we were gate crashing. Great. The second SUV has Pepper Potts and Happy in it, and I'm a little surprised, until I realize that Pepper is accepting the key and Happy is leaving, along with the real estate agents. I turn back to the bedroom and start hunting for the rest of my armor, and any sign of anything suspicious Loki may have done. He's not exactly on my good side right now. I could've dealt with blood in my hair when I woke back up in my own body.

Of course, Loki is dealing with pink and gold being his new colors-Tony and I had even re-registered him in Asgard's armory as pink and gold, so his new armor as a gift for his honor in battle is going to be in those hues. So in effect, I've had my vengeance on him for abandoning me without explanation in his body and I've had my vengeance on Tony for all the years of him not being nice to me, until yesterday when he realized that I was capable of thinking of more than just me. Something I'm not sure he is capable of yet, except maybe for what he did for Pepper. But that's the gospel according to Pepper. Not the gospel according to Tony, which I'd like to hear.

"Hello? Rhosyn? Do you have your voice back?" Pepper calls as she walks in. "I still want to know why you wanted me to buy this house especially, and ship that car here. What was it about an apology gift?"

I open my mouth a few times like a fish as she walks in, not blinking at the clothes I'm in. "Hi Pepper. Umm...what did I tell you specifically about this being an apology?"

"Something about this being a reminder of happy times and a promise that once everything is fixed maybe that new start can continue." She said, handing me a suitcase that I knew was part of the collection Tony had purchased for her five years ago, that she used exclusively, refusing to let him buy her a new set, because it was custom made and it was the one expensive gift from Tony she hadn't even argued about. "I brought you clothes, even though you said you'd be fine. Your armor is at the specialist's and your clothes

are being repaired and dry cleaned. I hope that's okay."

I nod, opening the suitcase and pulling out a pair of ripped jeans and a tank-top, quickly changing into them. I'm done with Asgardian raiment for right now. I need to feel normal, and not so out of place. I keep the boots though, kicking myself mentally that I called the dress raiment. This isn't Shakespeare. Sheesh. "So, have you heard from the Avengers?"

"No." Pepper said, with a sigh. "They all left so suddenly, when Loki showed up freaking out about something, in full armor."

Oooh. I remember that neckache all too well. That silly cow helmet. "I don't feel myself any more Pepper. It's like I still like the thrill of a good con, but I almost want to be law-abiding for a while again, maybe get a job. Or keep my job that Natasha gave me." I slump down on the couch, digging in my purse that Pepper had thankfully brought, hunting for my favorite lip balm. "I just...okay...I need relationship advice."

Pepper raises an eyebrow and sits down, making a mini show of turning off her blackberry's audio. "You feel that the only reason Loki spends time with you is because you're a con artist and because of the mischief you cause?" She pulls a stark tablet out of her purse and pulls up JARVIS, heading straight for the security logs. "Just watch this."

I take it, watching the footage of the Avengers, Jane, Darcy, Sif, and Fandral all pacing or sitting and fretting, with Tony tinkering at his suit. Then, Loki dashes in. "Call to Heimdal to open the bifrost. Immediately!" He cries out, begging practically, as everyone jumps up and points weapons at him, Tony quickly suiting up. I watch as he spills out his story of what's going on, and how Asgard needs Thor, needs Loki's magic. How they have to go defend it. And then the line that's obviously why Pepper wanted me to see this.

_"Listen, I already lost my mother you pathetic creatures. I refuse to lose the one person I care about most, and the wards I put on her are practically gone, and she's already been injured once. I can't lose her, so please, open the bifrost and help me save Asgard. Please Thor. I helped you save Jane. Help me save my Midgardian love."_ It doesn't sound like him at all, but the look on his face tells me that he isn't dissembling. His sole motive is to make sure I live. Holy shit.

God I need to go fix that armor order before he finds out...

Pepper takes the tablet back from me as I slump down further. "Does that answer your questions?"

"Some of them." I admit, pinning a few strands of hair back out of my face and pulling out my gun, taking it apart and reassembling it as I talk. "I hadn't entirely stopped conning people when I last talked to Loki. I was effectively conning people up until the moment I woke up, back in my own body. Loki is the one who told you that I wanted this house for an apology. This place and the car are memories from the time he and I spent together, when I helped him deal with some of his issues, and he listened to mine in return." I click the safety on and put the gun back in its slot in my purse. "I just...I..."

Pepper's phone starts buzzing and she looks at it and then looks at me apologetically.

"Go on Pep." I smile at her. "I'm just on a loop here anyways."

"Pepper Potts." She answers, briskly, professional. "Oh God. Is Tony okay? What!? That's a capital offense on Asgard? Thor's king now so he's just giving Tony community service?" She's reacting to someone talking very fast. "Alright Darcy. Slow down." She waits, listening. "Alright. I'm in Miami. Can Heimdal pick me up here or do I need to fly back to New York?" She waits. "Yes. Rhosyn is here. She was supposed to talk to Fury about the Avengers staying a while? Just a moment." She covers the phone. "Did you talk to Fury?"

I pull out my phone and dial the direct number. "Doing so."

"She's doing it right now." Pepper spoke back to Darcy. "She's been out cold for a few days." Oh God. Another pause. "Hello Fandral. Yes. It will take a few hours so yes, you have time to go see the movie with Darcy to experience more of Midgard's romantic culture." She chuckles. "No, I haven't seen it. I'm planning to drag Tony. I think he may have earned his way off the couch. Pink and gold." She tsks. "I think it might be a good set of colors for him."

Fury picks up as Pepper hangs up with a laugh.

"Sir. This is Rhosyn Stark."

"What the mother fucking hell do you want now?"

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm calling on behalf of Odin, Allfather and Thor, interim king of Asgard while Odin is in the Odinsleep. They request the Avengers' aid in protecting their fair realm while they recover from the battle, and in return, they promise that the next time the Chitauri or a similar foe, from out of our realm, come calling, we can count on their aid." Hope that's what Loki planned.

"I got the email. You sound more like yourself now Agent Stark. As discussed, your orientation will occur when you return from Asgard. You'll have a badge waiting in the envelope sent to you with the orders for the Avengers-official ones- and you can go through your basic basic training under Natasha and Clint's tutelage as much as possible while you're in Asgard. Ms. Lewis, as discussed, will become your assistant ambassador and will eventually take over responsibility."

"Ummm..." Fuck you Loki. "Thank you sir. I'll see you when I return?"

"Yes you will. We have a few things to talk about about your plea deal that you've arranged for Loki. It's interesting that he wants to work for the Avengers. The clause about subjugation demands needs a little work, as does the clause about being allowed free reign to continue at least his journey on route 66. He specifically requests you as his SHIELD liason handler, instead of Agent Hill, like the rest of the Avengers and..."

"Rhosyn, we need to get to the airport. Happy is fueling the jet up."

"Sir. Sorry to interrupt. Pepper and I need to get back to New York to meet Fandral and Darcy and get to Asgard."

"Understood Agent. Welcome to SHIELD."

So when did I get a job with SHIELD?

Darcy and Pepper are awestruck by Asgard. Jane looks around with a sigh. "I was hoping to see it sometime when it was at its best again." She frowns. "So far war has wrecked all my visits."

"Lady Jane," Sif says, inclining her head respectfully to the scientist, as she approaches our little cluster. "Do your require assistance with your bags? Thor would be here, but he has duties to the people."

"That's fine. A little help would be nice, but I can get it. Darcy..."

"I'm helping the Lady Darcy!" Fandral insists, and I realize that maybe Darcy and Fandral aren't the best combination. Oh well. Promotes peace.

"Sif," I bite my lip. "What are they saying of me?"

She turns and looks at me incredulously. "Lady Rhosyn." She inclines her head respectfully, startling me. "Thor speaks of you as one of the most formidable warriors he has ever fought alongside. He says that you came back from the dead, thanks to Hel, in order to slay the foe who was about to smite Odin down, and that somehow you helped Odin and himself to avoid meeting death themselves."

Great. Now I'm a fucking hero. "That wasn't me."

"I saw the end of the fight, my lady." Sif said, looking shocked. "It was you. The Allfather declared you a hero before passing into the Odinsleep."

Well shit. "I don't remember anything past my injuries, then I woke up in a house and I'd apparently arranged all these things..." I don't want to freak Pepper out by telling her she had been hanging out and had apparently had girl time, complete with manis and pedis, with Loki. I forgot Asgard runs on a different time frame then Earth. "If Allfather has declared it so..." I trail off, realizing that by taking credit I would be minimizing Loki's actions. "I must speak with him before acknowledging my deeds, surely you understand that Lady Sif?"

She's startled that I addressed her formally, and I pray to whatever can hear me that I can find my silvertongue quickly as she opens her mouth again. "Thor is insistent that we celebrate immediately..."  
"What I do remember is the deaths of many valiant warriors." I began, taking a deep breath and hoping this would work. "To celebrate a deed I do not remember when the deaths of so many warriors who are Aesir, or their brethren, whose lives are worth a million of my own, weighing heavily on my mind, would not be right. Is it not in keeping with the custom for a warrior to be allowed to mourn their comrades after such a great battle?"  
Sif wrinkles her nose, silent a moment.

"She is right Sif," Fandral chimes in, looking at me strangely. "Though she does not outright say it, the battle weighs heavy on her, and on all of us who were present. She saw the whole thing through."

Sif just nods calmly, and I realize that they're so used to Loki's dissembling that my own is probably child's play and such bullshit they can see through it easily. "You use your words well. I realize it would not be meet to celebrate now, with such tragedy weighing on your mind, and having reminded us, on us all." Sif gave a sad smile. "Thor should be able to understand Lady Rhosyn."

"I'm not a lady. Never have been, never will." I tell her emphatically as I mount my horse without any assistance, feeling awkward in the clothes I'd thrown on in Miami, not having given enough fucks to care. Fandral helps Darcy up behind him, and Jane has her own horse, as does Pepper. We trot briskly across the bridge and through the demolished streets, healers still tending to the injured, even now, in what is apparently a day after.

Tony is waiting in the courtyard, hugging closely to Bruce Banner's side, only daring to dart forth and greet us when Pepper is assisted off her horse, and starts looking for him.

"Sick place," Darcy says, before Fandral leads her off to find clothing for her. Yeah right Fandral.

"Real nice of you to warn me Rhosyn," Tony hisses at me. "I can't even get out of being stalked for this one."  
I just shrug. "I have no clue what you are talking about dear brother. I was on Earth arranging for you and your friends to stay here and help out." I wave my badge at him. "And this. I outrank you now."

"Oh God! Fury gave you a job? How'd you get through the interviews?"

"I don't know. I don't remember that bit. I can't get out of my head all the violence." I lie. I've seen worse. I've caused more gruesome injuries than many that I've seen.

Tony opens and closes his mouth a few times before Pepper steers him towards the direction of where Banner is. "Come on Tony. I've missed you." Pepper says soothingly, hugging him, kissing him once his mouth quit flapping open and shut.

Jane looks at me and sighs. "I guess it's the two of us now Rhosyn." Jane isn't my biggest fan. Darcy may think it's cool that I'm so good at coming up at stories, and that I'll usually vouch for her on her latest schemes, but Jane is pissed at me.

I look at Sif. "Lady Sif, may I take my leave? Prince Thor will probably request that I speak more of my deeds and I wish not to. I do not seek recognition for myself."

Sif nods. "I will convey your sorrows to him and your distaste of recognition. He will not be easily swayed."  
And I will not let myself take the credit, even though it would really help me with everyone who isn't clued in. I got my ass there. Loki took over and killed the badass motherfucker of the boss fight.

I turn and leave, wishing I had a long skirt to swish, or heels to click angrily. Instead, I just feel the heavy weight of each footfall in Loki's old boots. I wander through the palace, keeping my head down, wishing I'd thought to bring the dress Loki had left me in so I could at least slightly blend in. Instead, everyone knows who I am. I duck into a room randomly to avoid another group of warriors, all who seem focused on happiness in survival rather than the death of their comrades.

"I left you in the dress for a reason." Loki's voice is low, and tired. I've ducked into a small library, one I recognize as Frigga's personal library. "I thought it would help hide you. I would have left a cloak, but I know how protective you are of your jackets and I was drained from my magic use. I'm sorry."

"You beg for them to come help you save me and Asgard. You apologize. Are you feeling okay?" I want to just run over and hug him, ask him where he was, check over him for injury, even though I know that he shouldn't be injured.

He laughs, not an angry laugh, but a genuine laugh, a wide grin spreading across his face. He's happier than I've ever seen him. "I'm feeling better than I have in a long time. I wish mother was here to see it."

"Thor. He wants to honor me. It was all you." I spit it out, hoping I don't ruin the sight in front of me, Loki without any armor, dressed simply, no royal accoutrements except the signet ring he wears that I don't remember, but it has his sigil on it.

"Thor and I have discussed this. You will be honored for all you did, and I have already been released from my sentence and given probation, for my work with the Avengers. Captain Rogers is glad to have me on the team now. The only naysayer is Tony and Agent Barton."

"Clint? He's a jackbooted thug when it comes to second chances except for with Romanoff." I set my bag down on a chair and stand there, awkwardly unsure what to do next. "Tony, well, he's mad at me too."

Loki sets down his book and lets out a soft laugh. Again. I could get used to hearing him laugh so often. It's nice. "Rhosyn...do you mind the house and the car? Or the new job?"  
"Well, SHIELD wasn't exactly in my plan, but I'd rather not go back to being a doctor. I wasn't cut out for it, I was just trying to appease Tony at the time. The house? Is it in you probation area?"  
"I can go wherever I want, so long as someone accompanies me." He locks eyes with me and I realize shit is about to go down. "Would you do me the honor of coming with me to the main library to find a tome referenced in my book but not here in mother's library?"

Okay. Maybe no shit is going down. "I'd love to, but I'm still tired, strangely."  
"An effect of the magic," he frowned, putting a hand to my neck. "It's still in your veins even. Did Odin give you anything?"

"A potion to ease the soul shift." I say, wondering if Odin was lying and my bs meter didn't catch it.

"Shit." Loki hissed, turning to the shelves and starting to look through them frantically. "There is no such thing. I have all my magic...it's here...but..."

"Loki. What's going on?"

"Focus on your watch. Imagine it being gold filagree with a diamond insetting." Loki said, grabbing a few books and flipping through them madly. "Let me know if anything remotely different occurs."

I shrug, looking down at my black watch, SHIELD issue that I'd swiped from the hub. Gold and diamond, huh? Not my usual style... My watch shimmers slightly, and I feel the start of a bad headache, and dizzy.

"It shimmered.I have a migraine now."  
Loki puts a hand on my forehead and I feel a prickle, and then the headache is gone. Loki looks more tired. "We'll have to forgo the library. You need rest, and I need to speak with the Allfather."

_She rushes to his arms,  
They fall together  
She whispers that it's only for awhile  
She swears that soon she'll be comin' back forever  
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile_

**AN: Lyin' Eyes by The Eagles**

**Delay due to travelling. It's technically feeling like almost 3 am even though it isn't. Also, I got annoyed that people couldn't read AN's to see that things will be explained in due time. It's a pet peeve. Everything does not have to be laid out on a fucking silver platter right from the get go. I love mysteries, thus I don't say "this is rhosyn stark. she met Loki at a car rental agency. Loki realized she was a con artist. Loki said join my squad of evil people" or something like that. My apologies for the rant; merry christmas, happy boxing day, kwanzaa, hannukah, new year's, whatever it is you celebrate. **


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13- In Which It's Really Nothing

"I said I was sorry Tony!" I shrieked, as Tony drunk yet another mug of mead. It was watered down but still. "I had no clue! And I've been dealing with residual magic for the past two weeks!"

"Are you sure you haven't just been holed up with Loki so you two can fuck each other senseless before you're his probation officer and supervisor?" Tony snaps bitterly. Pepper left yesterday, as did Darcy and most of the team. Tony and Steve are only here for a few more days, collecting the data Thor wants to give us. Odin still sleeps, so Jane and Thor are staying here until then. Thor feels that if Jane rules as his future queen, by his side, while Odin sleeps, maybe Jane can be proven worthy. I wrote Odin a long letter about how he really needs to wake up and truly figure out what's best for Thor, not what's best for Odin's plans.

"I have barely seen Loki, because he's been out helping and training with you guys." I snap feeling bitter. I saw Loki when he came to bed at night, and occasionally at the dinner meals. Sometimes he slept on the couch or on top of the sheets. He hadn't even stayed long at the feast honoring me. It would have been nice to have some support. I don't like being the center of attention. It makes me want to go to ground and run another con, but I've been pulled into the middle of whatever Loki's planning.

"It is true," Steve says, entering, handing Tony another stack of calculations. "You need to lay off her. You were perfectly nice to her when Pepper was around, so that she'd be nice back to you. Rhosyn- I apologize. He's probably just feeling deprived."

I laugh, not just at Steve's comment but at the ungainly look of consternation on his face at having to go there in his latest attempt to get Tony off of my back. "Thank. I'm going to go pack. SHIELD wants me to report in for basic training now. Steve-you don't mind watching Loki, do you?"

SHIELD says I have another three days until I report. I just need to get away from this place where I'm stuck in a position of honor and all that shit.

Steve nods. "You going to tell Loki?"

"He already knows," I lie. Half of this is a test, to see if he'll really come find me when I run off, like he said he would. I'm tempted to ask Heimdal to just send me to a completely different realm, just to test that. A realm where Loki is forbidden from entering or something intriguing like that.

"Don't do anything stupid Rhosyn," Steve warned, as I walk out.

I don't check in, I don't turn my phone on, I just go to a rental agency and rent a car under the name of Julia Darcy. I have cash from Pepper's wallet, stolen quickly under the pretense of getting some Midgardian mascara. For the hell of it, I rented a dark green Lamborghini. I drive until I need more gas, I fill up, I continue on.

I end up in a tiny tequila only bar in Cabo San Lucas before I run out of cash. I may have ripped everyone from Earth off before I left. "Uno mas por favor." I beg, handing over a fake zircon ring that I'd bought to pretend to be married and looking for a quick affair back in Oklahoma. I'd slipped the guy a roofie so I hadn't had to do anything. I had gotten money from him though.

"Last one chica," the bartender said, smiling at me. I'd told her enough of my story for her to realize that I was on the lam from my job and from my well, let's face it, my husband.

I don't bother with lime and salt at this point. My head is throbbing already. I have enough gas to get to a hotel and then I'll have to use my credit card. I turn my cell phone on so I can find the closest hotel. I should have bothered calling Fury earlier.

"Hello?" I croak into the phone.

"Why didn't you report in! Rogers said..."

"Loki and I are having personal issues." I tell Maria in a voice that probably lets her know just how drunk I'm in.

"He's frantic," she admits. "Fury is not pleased having to deal with a frantic god of mischief."  
"I left him a trail. Tell him to shape up and find me if he gives a fuck." I hang up and drown the SIM card in a glass of water.

"Good luck chica." The bartender tells me as I get out and stagger to the Lamborghini.

"I do give a fuck Rhosyn." Loki tells me from where he leans against the car in a tight pair of leather pants and a dress shirt. The wind is ruffling his recently cut hair and I gulp when I see the faint line of his ring, stolen from Tiffany's in New York, shortly before he tried to take over the place. Mine is in it's box in my duffel bag in the boot of the car. I never have worn it for long. It was always this thing where we never truly spoke about the fact that we got married.

"I just told Maria that."

"She texted me." He held up a phone, latest Stark tech. He pocketed it and then looked at me solemnly. "We have a decision to make."

"You weren't around. I was just stuck there on bed rest and..."

"I'm sorry. I needed to see if my plan was really as viable as it seemed." Loki took the keys from me and helped me into the passenger seat, climbing smoothly into the driver's seat and starting the car, just as easily as he had before.

"And the sleeping apart?"

"You needed to recover. I...I..." He stops talking and accelerates rapidly, winding through the streets to the Capella Pedregal. We'd stayed here once. "Darcy." He say to the front desk, and he's given a key, and I realize he may have known exactly where I would end up from the moment he found out about the car rental.

It isn't until we're in the room and he's got the coffee machine percolating it's hotel blend that he finishes what he was saying. "I thought I was going to lose you. I almost didn't have enough magic to heal you from all the injuries, and I...I saw everything that had happened and I realized." He stops there and slips off the shoes he's wearing, and the socks, and I smile, even at the horror of the memories he's dredging up.

"You just disappeared on me. I..Pepper showed me when you showed up at the tower." I take off my jacket and drape it across a chair, going to the machine to pour a cup of coffee, leaving it black to my disgust, because I needed to think more clearly. All that tequila was a shit decision. "I don't feel like myself anymore."

"Neither do I. Remember that offer?" He holds out the little black box at me, looking up at me with eyes that speak volumes. "Start over with me Rhosyn. Turn a new page. Actual jobs. Legitimate identities. Burn our bridges with the past, except what we have to for the jobs."

"I thought you wanted to mend bridges." I drink the liquid like it's cough syrup and I'm coughing my life up. I want the buzzing to go away. "I was drunk last time I made this decision Loki. I dont'..."

"I don't want you to either." He sets aside the box, centering it gently on the table. "There's two rooms. Drink your coffee, take a shower, sleep or stay up. I...I can't use magic until I have a probation officer and all, so it's been a long day of traveling."

I nod, watching as he turns his back and walks towards one of the bedrooms. My duffel bag is sitting near the door to the bathroom. "Loki..."

"Yes?" He turns and I can see the desolation in his eyes, the weight of the fact that every time he wanted something it was denied him, even when it was simply the love of his adoptive father.

"You look good."  
"You look like shit Rhosyn." It's honest, but then he smiles. "Somehow you make it look good."

I laugh. "Save your flattery Silvertongue."

I draw a bath while I drink a second cup of coffee, padding around in just a bathrobe I found, discarding my clothes onto the floor of the bathroom, not caring. They need washed anyways, I remind myself, as I kick them underneath the counter.

I remember the guilt of the thefts, of each con, and I realize that all of this boils down to the fact that I feel like I belong somewhere when I'm with him, no matter what he does, no matter what I do. It's not that we're two misfits, it's that we speak the same language, and we were raised with that language.

Lies.

I get out of the bath when the water is cold and I realize I don't have a comb for my hair except for in my duffel bag, and I don't feel like bothering with that. I just put the robe back on, drain the tub, using the mouthwash someone left on the counter with a sigh of relief, before putting the kettle on in the stove, for a cup of tea before the sleep that my eyelids crave. My head still hurts, but I've made my decision.

The mugs aren't that big, and I settle for a rather shitty tasting cup of generic herbal tea. I've become a snob in all ways. Lady Rhosyn. Rhosyn Stark. Agent Stark. Ambassador Stark. Prisoner. Con Artist. Traitor. Wife. Warrior.

The words run through my head and I close my eyes as I sit on the floor of the kitchen, back pressed up against a corner, staring blankly at the clock, the mug in my hands empty.

This is the moment I wish I had a mother to talk to. I could call Pepper, but she has her hands full with Tony. She doesn't need my problems. I close my eyes and let the memories flash through my mind.

_Start over with me._

The words echo in my mind. I put the mug in the sink and pad towards the door he disappeared into. He's sleeping half on top of the covers, half under them, his belt and shirt off, his pants still on. The exhaustion and worry on his features is painful. Because I know that's my fault. This time I'm to blame.

I leave the robe on the floor by the side of the bed least occupied by his sprawled body. He didn't exactly choose a spot and stick to it. I pull the covers up over him, just the sheet, as I wrap that selfsame sheet around my shoulders, up to my chin, noticing that the air conditioning is off in this room and realizing that he's running cold for once, almost like he's starting to accept it, and not spend energy even asleep to stay normal.

I'm almost asleep when I realize what I've forgotten, sliding out of bed, leaving the robe where it is, walking to that table in the entrance room, opening that box, and sliding that ring on my finger, the emerald winking up at me from the delicate goldwork. I feel the magic on it and realize that he's had it enchanted since the last time I wore it-to the feast in my honor. It's not a scary feel, it's comforting, like the warded things he and Frigga had insisted I wear.

His eyes are still closed when I come back into the room, but he's chosen a side, and his arms open to wrap around me as I crawl into bed. He's lost the leather pants too, I realize, as I start to lose consciousness to the bliss of a deep sleep after a hangover.

"We still have to fix our problems."  
"I know." He whispers in my ear, hugging me tightly as I slip into my sleep.

The last thing I recognize isn't the feel of his arms around me, but the shine of a star in the night sky, almost as if it's Frigga looking down happily at us.

I call Maria Hill in the morning, as Loki takes a shower. "I'm out Maria." I sound calm and resolute, as I sit at the table where Loki had sat last night, looking at the ring on my hand. "Loki will be available in dire emergencies, or if a spellcaster is honestly needed. We live in the house Pepper Potts procured under my name in Miami, or wherever we choose. SHIELD provides and backstops two names without looking at what they are. The papers for those arrive at our hotel within the hour. In exchange, Loki and I will never cause any more problems for Midgard ever again."

"Steep." Maria comments, even as I hear her clicking rapidly on a SHIELD keyboard.

"One more condition. The money you would have paid to Loki and I. I want a scholarship created for orphans who have stories like Loki or I. I want it to be called the Friday Project. Jane Foster can run it, with Thor. She can explain the significance. Thor will be able to explain the criteria once he gets it. You will call this number once a year to check in, and no more. We'll know if the Avengers need Loki."

"Fury won't like it. Neither will the council."  
"The way I see it, agreeing gets what you want, and it lets two Asgardians live their own lives in peace."  
"You're Asgardian?"

"By marriage."

Loki has entered the room and looks at me curiously, but with a happy approval, as he walks over and takes my hand in his, fingering the ring.

"Understood." Maria hesitates. "The papers are on their way. It was good to meet you Rhosyn Stark."  
"Tell Tony I'm keeping my stocks." I hang up the phone and shut it off. "Everything is set with SHIELD." I look at the forging kit I have ready to finalize that SHIELD documents.

"The question now is who are we now?" He asks me, as he takes the lid off our breakfast, handing me an apple from the fresh fruit we'd ordered, as he sets about dividing up the meager breakfast we'd ordered.

"William and Julia."

"I like it." Loki says, as there is a knock on the door. He gets up and opens it, Natasha Romanov standing there with a packet of papers. "I'll see you in battle Agent Romanov."

She nods and leaves, not even bothering to have us sign for the documents.

"Battle?"

"In the thick of things?" He suggests, knitting his eyebrows together as I start to write our new names on the forms.

"In defense of the world." I correct, kissing him. "I think we should go home today. Get some new furniture. More books."

He nods, watching over my shoulder. "We'll have to go announce things in Asgard sometime."

"Home first."

"Home."

**AN: ***= Into Eternity from the Thor Dark World OST**

**I had different plans, but things changed. This is a hodgepodge of the beginning of the original plan and the ending that showed up. If you want to listen to the song while reading this, start when she leaves the bar. **

**I've never been to Mexico, and have no plans to. If there's no bar that sells only tequila-I plead artistic license. I don't do alcohol. **

**This is the end of this, except for if Rhosyn pops up in more little AU stories like "The Taser" or if she lands her arse in my SHIELD Hogwarts AU pos I drabble in when I'm exhausted. **


End file.
